Tchah Sup Kim has experimented with a wide variety of genres and methods, including pop art, geometric abstraction, mail art, readymade objects, environmental art, and minimalism. Although the styles and materials have changed over time, Kim’s artwork always expresses a quest for the transcendent—as well as a critique of the Western-centric perspective. Born in Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture, Kim and his family moved to Gyeongju, Korea, in 1944. He graduated from… Read More

Yoo Geun-Taek is a leading contemporary painter known for uniting traditional ink-and-wash painting techniques with the Korean post-modernist approach of the mid-1990s and 2000s. In contrast to the idealized objects usually found in traditional ink-wash painting (Sumukhwa), Yoo's art depicts the emotional quality of the workaday world—and often uncovers joy in the chaos and clutter of modern life. His paintings depict the everyday experience of the individual, and include intimate… Read More

Park Boo Won’s contemporary reproductions of moon jars simultaneously carry on and advance the Korean royal ceramic tradition. Traditional moon jars originated in the court of King Chŏngjo at the end of the 18th century. The white porcelain and simple curves embodied the principles of frugality and purity—neo-Confucian ideals of the ruling dynasty. Born in the countryside of Kimje in 1938, Park learned the royal ceramic tradition under distinguished master… Read More

Young Shik Kim is a Korean folk-art painter who combines historic technique and materials with contemporary forms and non-traditional colors. Her style of simple objects rendered in a soft palette was developed over twenty years of practicing traditional Minhwa painting. Ms. Kim has participated in many group exhibitions in South Korea, China, Mongolia, Switzerland, and the United States. Her work recently appeared at the Induk University Gallery and the Ara… Read More

Unrestrained by boundaries of medium or style, Lee LeeNam playfully reimagines classic works of art from different genres, time periods, and countries. He adds movement and detail to Eastern and Western masterpieces, inviting viewers to discover the new in familiar images. Lee majored in sculpture at Chosun University before discovering a passion for animation, a discipline that embraces both technology and time-honored technique. His digital creations also examine this interaction… Read More

In the 1990’s, Ha Dong Chul (1946-2006), a leading Korean abstract artist, sought to represent the essential nature of creation through an examination of “light.” The resulting series of paintings bear his trademark synthesis of Western Modernism and native Korean technique. Ha used the “plucked ink line,” the age-old tool of the Korean carpenter and stonemason, to mark his canvasses with diagonal stripes. His bold, primary colors come directly from… Read More

From October 8 to 23, Christie’s showcased 33 paintings by eight Korean masters of modern abstract art, including those from the Dansaekhwa movement, at their Rockefeller Center West Galleries. The Korea Society offered an exclusive private tour to our members, led by Dr. Young Yang Chung, the Chair of the Program Committee at The Korea Society, and Christie’s curator Yunah Jung. Twenty-six of the works were available for private sale,… Read More

Choong Supim builds bridges between different worlds. He combines sculpture, painting, and found objects to assert a harmony among contrasting concepts, such as the regimentation of modern civilization and a chaotic universe, urban and rural life, and the West and Korea. To Lim, the emphasis on distinctions conceals a deeper truth, which he seeks to uncover through an “emptying of self” and a patching of the “in-betweens.” The installation artwork… Read More

After losing his parents and left hand to the Korean War, Park Dae Sung so loved art that by the age of ten he would rigorously and repeatedly copy ink-and-wash images and calligraphy from classic texts. This courageous young boy grew into an artist of visionary integrity, who, with deep gratitude to his artistic birthright, gracefully transcends imitation of his predecessors. Park Dae Sung achieves the traditional goal of the… Read More

Lea Sneider has a passion for folk art: the ceramics, woodwork, paintings, and sculpture used and enjoyed in everyday life. While accompanying her husband, Richard L. Sneider, to his appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Korea in 1974, Mrs. Sneider became an avid explorer of the art galleries and museums of Seoul, Daegu, and Busan. She sought out scholars of the rich tradition of Korean folk art, a field largely unexplored… Read More