Korean artists receive attention in Turkey
A view of virtual edition of Contemporary Istanbul / Courtesy of Contemporary Istanbul
Chun Kwang-young featured as Contemporary Istanbul's headliner
By Kwon Mee-yoo
Contemporary Istanbul (CI), Turkey's leading art fair, will open a virtual edition Dec. 21, featuring works of renowned Korean artists, including Chun Kwang-young.
The event, which was scheduled to take place this week at the Istanbul Convention and Exhibition Center, saw a change in plan after the COVID-19 pandemic failed to subside. The organizers decided to go two-track, hosting a virtual edition of the event from Dec. 19 to Jan. 6 and pushing back the physical event to April 2021.
The fair's director Melih I?smail I?nan said the virtual edition will try to reproduce the same experience as visiting a physical fair.
"The virtual fair provides the chance for galleries to get in contact with collectors and artists within the platform. They can use chats to ask about artwork and even invite art advisors or friends to join and talk about the artwork together. This is something that has never been done before in online art fairs," Inan said during an interview with The Korea Times via Zoom.
The general idea of the virtual platform is to re-create an environment similar to the traditional art fair.
"In the physical art fair, the most important thing is the social bond that people form during the event. Because they come to the fair to see the artwork, but mostly to meet the gallerists and artists and be there. We try to move the same experience to the digital world," he said.
"It is not just a static website like an olnine shopping mall, but more like visiting a physical fair. You can walk around the gallery space to see the artwork and go to another gallery the next. It is like a game experience and we think people will enjoy it very much."
Melih Ismail Inan, director of Contemporary Istanbul
The virtual CI did not pop up overnight, but is a result of preparation ahead of time.
"We have been working on this for a couple of years for now, but because of the pandemic we had to get this ready in a couple of months," Inan said.
Inan, who visited Korea back in 2012 to learn about Korean contemporary art, said there is an interest for diverse things among Turkish collectors, and Korean artists and galleries have received much attention and positive responses from Turkish audiences.
That would be the reason why Chun was chosen as one of the headliners of the 15th edition of the CI. The Sevil Dolmaci Gallery based in Istanbul presents "Aggregation 15-Fe009 (Star 2)," a blue circular creation by Chun, at the CI.
Chun is known for his “Aggregation” sculptural works made of small triangular objects wrapped in "hanji," or traditional Korean mulberry paper.
The Aggregation series was inspired by Chun's childhood experiences of medicinal herbs packed in paper packets. His main material is pages of antique books on Eastern philosophy as he attempts to bring forth ancestors' wisdom and craftsmanship. He dyes the paper with natural materials such as coffee and tea and traditional Korean ingredients.
Chun assembles thousands of the triangular pieces on a canvas or a sculptural substructure, creating Aggregation, which is described as "a window that reflects the history of human life" by the artist. Putting these small pieces together, Chun attempts to embrace individual and collective society at the same time.
"It is something we haven't seen in Turkey and it evokes an interest in the Turkish people. Chun uses Korean paper which pops out of the canvas, looking like a 3D artwork. It's different from what we are used to seeing here," he said.
Chun Kwang-young's "Aggregation 15-Fe009 (Star 2)" will be presented at Contemporary Istanbul, one of the leading art fairs in Turkey. Courtesy of Sevil Dolmaci Gallery
Bringing Korean art to Turkey
Chun is not the only Korean artist to be introduced at Turkey's largest art fair. AB Gallery based in Seoul has been taking part in the fair since its inauguration.
Sung Suk-nam, general director of the gallery, said it has been introducing about 10 artists a year.
"Contemporary Istanbul is one of the top art fairs in the world, which is visited by many collectors from the Middle East," Sung told The Korea Times.
"As we have been participating in the fair for the past 15 years, our customer base in Turkey and the neighboring countries has grown significantly. We send out over 250 invitations within Turkey when we visit the country for art fairs."
This year, AB Gallery is presenting works of eight Korean artists ― Seung Jae-min, An Ma-ran, Yoo Sun-tai, Park Chul, Won Sang-chul, Lim Young-joo, Jo Sung-won and Hwang Bu-yong.
"Some of the participating artists are regulars, while we also promote aspiring artists. Artists like Won Sang-chul and Yoo Sun-tai have regular collectors here and some of them ask us to bring works by certain artists. As we sell out every year, more artists want to take part in the CI with us," Sung said.
The director said Turkey is amicable toward Korea, making Turks take an interest in Korean art as well as the country.
"As we are on good terms with our Turkish customers, we look forward to seeing them once a year. We even gave a tour of Korea when a Turkish collector visited Korea," she said.
With the December fair transformed into a virtual event, AB Gallery geared up for the online meeting with their guests in Turkey.
"We geared up for this ― we tried to capture the artwork as accurate as possible, complete with descriptions in Korean, English and Turkish and QR codes to provide more information," Sung explained. "Some of our collectors are regulars, so they buy without seeing the actual artwork. However, we have high hopes for the physical event in April."