Int'l art collective presents works of 190 artists

Artist Neil Smith poses in front of a banner for the fourth exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo art collective, Saturday. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

The fourth group exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo, an art collective of Korean and foreign residents, as well as artists located around the world, kicked off last Friday evening at East Atelier Gallery in downtown Seoul, with over 190 artists participating. The exhibition features paintings, photography, digital art, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and films, and will feature events, including live painting, drawing parties, artist talks, art markets, live music, workshops and other activities at the gallery over three weeks, from Feb. 2 to 25.

The Hechyeomoyeo art collective started last year with 10 Korean and foreign artists and grew quickly from there as it attracted more participants, from professionals to beginners.

Its initiator and coordinator, Neil Wheelock Deforest Smith, an American artist who came to Korea as a teacher a couple of years ago, told The Korea Times that he and one of his artist friends came up with the idea to create a space that could bridge the gap between Korean and foreign artists in Seoul.

"The idea that I observed was like there are foreigner spaces, and there are Korean spaces. I thought that, well, we should make one that kind of bridges the two together," he said.

They approached artist James Beckwith about hosting an artist meetup, and he agreed to let them host it at his cafe, DRIPDROP, located near western Seoul's Hongik University.

The name for the collective comes from one of the Korean artists, Soo-hae, who also organizes the "Mayfly" exhibition series.

"She was the first person in Korea who let me show my work publicly. That's where I got the idea that this was even possible," Smith said.

"The name Hechyeomoyeo comes from the army. They say 'Hechyeomoyeo' when everybody is disorganized and scattered. And then when they say that, it's like a command, it’s like a verb. Everybody comes together, lines up, gets in order. We have all these scatters of artists on the individual level but also on the community level. The Korean artists are over here, the photographers are over here. The idea for Hechyeomoyeo was you get all of them together.”

Art from 190 artists lines the walls at the fourth exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo art collective in central Seoul's East Atelier Gallery, Saturday. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

This time, their exhibition has attracted over 190 Korea-based visual and digital artists, including foreign residents from countries such as Thailand, Mexico, Italy, India, Indonesia, France, Japan, the United States, Malaysia and the Netherlands. About 20 Thai artists sent their artworks for this exhibition alone.

"We started to have more international artists. We use social media to find people all over the world. I tell them what we're doing here in Seoul, and they just send me their artwork. Recently I went to Bangkok, and while I was down there, I was telling them about The Hechyeomoyeo, and I said, 'If you give me your work, I'll bring it to Seoul.' People want to show their artwork in Seoul," Smith said.

"It seems like people are taking more interest in it. It's only because there's a need for it. I'm responding to the need more than imposing some sort of vision. We don't make a lot of money. We're like a self-supporting community. Anyone can buy the art, and 100 percent of the money goes to the artist — we don't take any commission."

Bona Kim, owner of East Atelier Gallery, poses with Neil Smith at the fourth exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo art collective, Saturday. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Bona Kim, owner of East Atelier Gallery, which is hosting the exhibition, has a background as a visual artist working with ceramic sculptures.

"This place is a newborn gallery, only two years in operation. I'm supporting The Hechyeomoyeo collective of artists group in Seoul because I have had experience with galleries. The relationship with them is quite a hard part for artists. I decided to open my gallery for young and emerging artists. I think we need more international artists to engage with young Korean artists because we need to mingle and grow up together," she said.

East Atelier Gallery also hosted the collective's third exhibition last year.

American artist Peter Leon shows off a painting at the fourth exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo art collective in central Seoul's East Atelier Gallery, Feb. 3. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Peter Leon, an American painter and photographer who has lived for 15 years in Korea, is taking part in the group exhibition for the third time.

"It's great coming here and having the chance to work with different people, learn from everybody and have different kinds of interactions with people," he said. "And then, of course, when we have the events and people come in and you get to see people come in and look at your work and get the chance for them to ask you questions and talk about it, and you get to ask other artists questions about their work. I think that it's great."

Moroccan artist Soukaina El Hayany has been part of a multicultural family in Korea after moving here five years ago. "I felt like this place was amazing. This place gave me hope that it's OK to be who I want to be and show whatever art I want. It's OK to do whatever on the canvas, what explains my own emotions, and show it to people," she said.

Moroccan artist Soukaina El Hayany poses with her work at the fourth exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo art collective in central Seoul's East Atelier Gallery, Saturday. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

"I discovered five years ago that I love drawing and painting. I am an artist, and I want to be an artist. I'm studying art at Milan Art Institute, a U.S.-based online fine art school. I have already sold some of my art."

She explained her art, highlighting the importance of protecting the natural environment and preserving the world's natural heritage.

"The message that I want to deliver from my painting is a message to myself. At the same time, if there is a person who feels related to this painting, that would be nice," she said. "We need four important natural elements: earth, water, fire and air. And each one explains different things. As an example, air is communication. We have to communicate with ourselves and with people so we can achieve what we want, and then water is like transformation. As water always keeps transforming, we also need to have that transformation. We can't stay in the same place all the time. We have always to change and change. So, the message is you have to understand nature and conserve and preserve the natural environment."

The gallery is open from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday or by appointment. The closing party will be on Feb. 25 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Follow @thehechyeomoyeo or @eastatelier_gallery on Instagram for more information.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He's also co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative, and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.