Must-see shows during Frieze and Kiaf Seoul 2023 (2)

Installation view of Nam June Paik's outdoor laser installation, "Transmission Tower" (2002), which was unveiled in Korea for the first time at Nam June Paik Art Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Aug. 30 / Yonhap

By Park Han-sol

On the occasion of the return of two leading art fairs ― Frieze and Kiaf Seoul ― at COEX in southern Seoul, Sept. 6, Korea will see a flurry of exhibition openings and late-night soirees at museums and galleries strewn across its capital city.

Art enthusiasts are encouraged to journey beyond the fair venues and immerse themselves in the creative fabric of Seoul.

Here are selected shows that could be the cherry on top of your art-filled excursion.

Visitors take photos of British street artist Banksy's "Girl without Balloon," formerly known as "Love is in the Bin," during a preview at Paradise City, a resort complex in Incheon, Thursday. Yonhap

Multimillion-dollar masterpieces brought forth by major auction houses

It isn't just the galleries who are joining the festivity on the occasion of Frieze and Kiaf Seoul's return.

The three leading global auction houses are all hosting a free pop-up exhibition within the greater Seoul area, ready to dazzle audiences with multimillion-dollar Basquiats, Warhols and Banksys.

Sotheby's is bringing Banksy's "Love is in the Bin" ― the painting, originally titled "Girl with Balloon" that made international headlines when it self-destructed the moment it was sold at a 2018 auction ― along with 31 other masterpieces by the British street artist and Pop Art legend Keith Haring to Paradise City in Incheon. The piece was renamed "Girl without Balloon," during a preview, Thursday. "Love in Paradise: Banksy and Keith Haring" is set to run from Sept. 5 to Nov. 5 at the resort complex.

Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Warrior" (1982) / Courtesy of Christie's

Christie's show at the Storage by Hyundai Card from Sept. 5 to 7 will be a 150 million dollar spectacle that unites two American art titans: Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. "Heads On: Basquiat & Warhol" will place a selection of Basquiat's 1980s pieces ― including his landmark "Warrior" (1982), the most expensive Western artwork ever sold at auction in Asia for 41.9 million dollar ― side by side with Warhol's self-portraits.

Meanwhile, Phillips has taken a slightly different approach to its presentation, putting the works of 20th-century masters like Alexander Calder and David Hockney in dialogue with those of the emerging creatives. Lee Yoo-ra, Oh Se and Kim Ho-jae are some of the Korean-born artists featured in the roster of over 30 creators in "Briefly Gorgeous," which is scheduled to run until Sept. 9 at Songwon Art Center.

Installation view of "Anish Kapoor" at Kukje Gallery / Courtesy of Kukje Gallery

Instant eye-catchers: Anish Kapoor, Nam June Paik

British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor's sculptures and paintings are as disturbingly grotesque as mesmerizing.

Anish Kapoor has brought sculptural pieces coated in "blacker-than-black" paint, Vantablack, to Kukje Gallery. Korea Times photo by Park Han-sol

Internationally renowned for sculptures like the reflective Cloud Gate in Chicago's Millennium Park, the artist has long dedicated himself to push both the material and conceptual limits of visual art.

For his latest solo show at Kukje Gallery, he has filled the space with his heaps and globs of blood-red silicone, which almost seem to spew out of canvas or the wall. Overflowing with such fleshy, organlike mass, the entire exhibition hums with the sublime intensity of life itself.

Kapoor has also brought sculptural pieces coated in the instantly recognizable "blacker-than-black" paint, Vantablack. Also dubbed "Kapoor black," the substance, made up of carbon nanotubes, absorbs 99.96 percent of visible light and therefore could be likened to a black hole.

These works produce a bizarre viewing experience. They look flat and two-dimensional when observed head on. Only when the spectators walk to the side can they discover the pieces are in fact, bulging or sunken.

Another eye-catcher can be found at Nam June Paik Center in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, which has unveiled Nam June Paik's "Transmission Tower" ― the video art pioneer's rare outdoor laser installation ― for the first time in Korea.

Originally installed at Rockefeller Center in New York in 2002, its centerpiece is an 8-meter-tall tower equipped with red, blue, yellow and green neon lights on its side and laser beams on top. The tower is placed alongside a row of silver-painted vintage cars ― part of his "32 Cars for the 20th Century: Play Mozart's Requiem Quietly" (1997) ―that have piles of obsolete devices inside indicating the early television age.

Must-see shows during Frieze and Kiaf Seoul 2023 (1)

2023-08-31 15:05 | Theater & Others

"Cars are a symbol of 20th-century machine culture. And the laser is a symbol of 21st-century information technology," the artist said of the installation. By juxtaposing the two, Paik bids farewell to the technological strides made during the 20th century and looks forward into the future, into the next century ahead.

"Transmission Tower," which has been brought to life with artist Yun Je-ho's laser and sound design, will shoot colorful laser beams from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. every day in the center's courtyard until Dec. 3.

Kim Whanki's "5-IV-71 #200" (1971), nicknamed "Universe" / Courtesy of Whanki Foundation, Whanki Museum

Blockbuster exhibitions at Leeum, Hoam Museum of Art

The Samsung Foundation of Culture has filled its two venues ― Leeum Museum of Art in central Seoul and Hoam Museum of Art in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province ― with blockbuster exhibitions of Korea's modern and contemporary masters.

The Leeum Museum of Art hosts the largest museum show ever on Suki Seokyeong Kang, whose minimalist amalgamation of paintings, installations and videos draw on cultural traditions and aesthetic languages of Korea. Kang, the winner of the 2018 Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel, was invited to the prestigious Venice Biennale's flagship International Art Exhibition the next year.

At "Willow Drum Oriole," her latest pieces "transform the museum space into a three-dimensional, multi-sensory landscape painting," the Leeum said in a statement.

The Hoam Museum of Art is readying to wrap up its successful retrospective of renowned abstractionist Kim Whanki.

"a dot a sky_kim whanki," which runs until Sept. 10, offers a rare, comprehensive view of the artist's 40-year journey toward abstraction ― from his early works featuring classical East Asian motifs like moon jars and plum blossoms to his signature mosaic-like dot paintings. One of its highlights is Kim's 1971 diptych "Universe 5-IV-71 #200," which fetched 13.2 billion won (HK$88 million) at Christie's Hong Kong in 2019, making history as the most expensive Korean artwork ever auctioned.

David Salle's "Tree of Life, Rival" (2023) / Courtesy of the artist and Lehmann Maupin, Hong Kong, Seoul and London

Blue-chip global dealers with star artists

Powerhouse international galleries with outposts in Seoul are staging presentations of big-name creatives.

Pace Gallery will mount Yoshitomo Nara's "Ceramic Works," the Japanese neo-Pop artist's first solo show in Korea since 2005. It brings together more than 140 expressionist ceramics and 30 paper and cardboard drawings produced by the creator, who is widely known for his trademark sweet-yet-prickly, childlike characters.

Perrotin is poised to showcase Tavares Strachan's latest body of ceramic works that take cues from the African continent's historical relationship with ancient civilizations and his fascination with technological advancement. "Do and Be" will be the New York-based artist's debut solo show in Asia.

Gladstone Gallery is filling its space with the latest flower paintings of 96-year-old Alex Katz, while Lehmann Maupin is introducing the final iteration of David Salle's "Tree of Life" series, populated by breezy caricatures and gestural abstraction.

Alex Katz's "Orange Lily" (2022) / Courtesy of the artist, Gladstone Gallery

And Thaddaeus Ropac, which has newly expanded its space in Yongsan District in time for Frieze, spotlights two icons of 20th-century art: American Minimalist Donald Judd and German conceptualist Joseph Beuys. Judd's solo exhibition centers on his three-dimensional works, including woodcut prints conceptualized during his time in Korea in 1991, while Beuy's show, "Reservoirs of impulse," will be dedicated to his paper drawings.

White Cube and Whitestone Gallery, two newcomers to the Korean art scene, are each hosting an inaugural group exhibition to mark the opening of their new space in Seoul.

White Cube's "The Embodied Spirit," unfolded on the first floor of the ceramic-cloaked building in Gangnam District that also houses the Horim Art Center, will group paintings and sculptures of seven creatives ― including British artist Tracey Emin and Seoul-based Lee Jin-ju ― who all delve into the mysteries of human existence. Whitestone, the first Japanese art dealer to establish an outpost in Korea, will mount "We Love Korea" to highlight postmodern and avant-garde art of East Asia in its building, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, in Yongsan District.

Meanwhile, Lisson Gallery, which does not yet have a space in Korea, is presenting a pop-up group exhibition from Sept. 2 to 10 at "hanok"-styled EUM The Place as a mini-showcase of its represented artists. "Time Curve" features 15 creators, including Ai Weiwei, Ryan Gander and Kapoor.

Installation view of Lisson Gallery's pop-up group exhibition, "Time Curve," at EUM The Place in central Seoul / Courtesy of Lisson Gallery