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Category: Exhibition

Mina Cheon Dreaming Unification/Protest Peace

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Image courtesy of Mina Cheon Studio (Photo by Cyrus Feldman)

May 3 – September 2, 2021|

The global art activist Mina Cheon draws inspiration from the partition of the Korean peninsula, exemplified by her parallel body of work created under her North Korean alter ego, Kim Il Soon, in which she enlists a range of mediums including painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance to deconstruct and reconcile the fraught history and ongoing coexistence between North and South Korea. Her solo exhibition at The Korea Society, presented during the height of #stopasianhate movement and continuing tensions on Korean peninsula, showcases her most recent painting series of Unification Flags.

Tapping into her stream of unconsciousness to promote a future of unity and peace, Mina Cheon’s paintings of the Korean peninsula recalls past interKorean efforts including the Olympics, athletic teamwork, Arirang Mass Games, and other public events that celebrated “One Korea.” Submerged in the custom-made IKB (Yves Klein blue) paint and incorporating the cosmopolitan expression of protest art style using stencil and spray, each Unification Flag painting is a symbolic new figuration, a body that parades in a procession for peace.

Mina Cheon is a new media artist, scholar, educator, and activist best known for her “Polipop” paintings inspired by Pop art and Social Realism. She has exhibited internationally, including at the Asia Society Triennial (2021); Busan Biennale (2018); Baltimore Museum of Art (2018); American University Museum at the Katzen Arts Center, Washington, DC (2014); Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul (2012); and Insa Art Space, Seoul (2005). Her work is in the collections of the Baltimore Museum of Art; Smith College Museum of Art, Northampton; and Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul. Cheon received a BFA in painting from Ewha Womans University; an MFA in painting from the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) and an MFA in imaging and digital art from UMBC: An Honors University in Maryland; and a PhD in philosophy of media and communications at the European Graduate School, Saas-Fee, Switzerland. She is currently a Full-time Professor at MICA.

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), our gallery is open only by appointment. The appointment must be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled visit. To make an appointment, please contact info@koreasociety.org. All visitors will be required to wear a mask as well as complete the safety questionnaire upon arrival.

 

Mina Cheon
Dreaming Unification/Protest Peace

May 3 – September 2, 2021

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: (M-F) 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment
*From August 2-September 2, Monday-Thursday 10 AM – 4:30 PM*

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

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Soonchoel Byun Eternal Family

Posted on by Yurim Oh

@Byun Soonchoel. Courtesy of the artist and ARARIO GALLERY

September 8 – February 26, 2021|

Exhibition extended through February 26, 2021

The Korea Society presents Soonchoel Byun: Eternal Family, his first solo exhibition in New York in two decades. In his Eternal Family series, Byun imagines and digitally creates a reunion between family members separated by the Korean War. Created with utmost sensitivity and respect for the personal and historical tragedy, Byun’s art is a poignant reminder of the devastating consequences of the war that still remains today.

Soonchoel Byun (b. 1969) studied at the School of Visual Art in New York, and he has exhibited widely since then. Known for his vivid portraits of people from diverse backgrounds, Byun presents a candid yet sincere depiction of contemporary Korean life as it evolves with time.

The Korea Society Gallery will be closed December 12, 2020 – January 3, 2021.

Due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), our gallery is open only by appointment. The appointment must be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled visit. To make an appointment, please contact info@koreasociety.org. All visitors will be required to wear a mask as well as complete the safety questionnaire upon arrival.

 

Soonchoel Byun
Eternal Family

September 8 – February 26, 2021

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: (M-F) 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

Join our membership program here!

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Ik-Joong Kang: Moon Jar/Longing for Home

Posted on by Yurim Oh

Current Exhibition: January 16 – May 21|

Internationally acclaimed artist Ik-Joong Kang’s new site-specific installation “Floating Dreams to the Moon” premiers at the Korea Society. This solo exhibition will feature several new paintings by the artist as well as an installation of objects and over 6,000 drawings from Korean War refugees.

Kang’s artistic practice provides a platform for humanity’s aspirations for achieving what appears to be impossible. Just as Korean moon-jars are made from two precarious halves united to form a whole, Kang’s paintings emphasizes how moon jars represent the potential of the Korean peninsula to reunite. Orchestrating the collection, replication, and display of Korean refugee drawings, Kang transforms these individual works to form his sculptures that polishes another facet of this cultural longing for home, accomplishing personal as well as political reunions.

Born in Cheongju and raised in Seoul, Kang moved to New York in 1984 where he lives today while working internationally. Kang was awarded a special Merit Prize in the Venice Biennale and his work is held in major public and private collections world-wide.

 

Gallery Slide

 

     

Of Interest: Artist Talk: Ik-Joong Kang with Dr. Katherine Anne Paul
May 15, 2020 | 6:30 PM

Ik-Joong Kang
Moon Jar/Longing for Home

January 16 – May 21, 2020

 

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: (M-F) 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

Join our membership program here!

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Seunggu Kim Better Days

Posted on by Yurim Oh

CURRENT EXHIBITION | October 3-December 18, 2019 |

Reception and Panel Discussion on Contemporary Photography in Korea: Thursday, November 14, 2019 | 6 PM

The Korea Society is pleased to present Better Days, a solo exhibition featuring the photography of Korean artist Seunggu Kim.

Better Days is a series of photographs depicting what the artist describes as “Korean spectacles.” South Korea’s rapid development in the last 50 years has caused a lot of social ironies and incongruities, one of them being long working hours with very short period of break. Due to lack of time to travel, many Koreans end up spending holidays mostly around their hometown. The leisure places around Seoul and its suburbs try to entertain their customers by creating events and environments with increasing novelty, and the result is often an interesting blend of nature and artifice.

Using his camera to show the balance between unnatural elements and our own acclimation to the social ironies, Seunggu Kim describes and poses a question about our lifestyle and how we live.

Seunggu Kim graduated from Department of Photography, Sangmyung University in 2007 and received an M.F.A from the School of Visual Arts, Korea National University of Arts in 2012. He had five solo exhibitions in Seoul and had participated in numerous group exhibitions all over the world, including: Aperture Gallery, New York; Three Shadows Photography Art Centre, Beijing; Somerset House, London; 72 Gallery, Tokyo; and Filter Space, Chicago. He was the Grand Prix Winner, 2019 Tokyo International Photography Competition, and was named Ones to Watch by British Journal of Photography.

Gallery Hours: M-F 10 AM-4 PM Appointment Necessary

 

Seunggu Kim
Better Days

October 3-December 18, 2019

Reception and Panel Discussion on Contemporary Photography in Korea: Thursday, November 14, 2019 | 6 PM

 

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

**Pre-registration is now required for all Korea Society events, and an ID is required for security.**

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

Join our membership program here!

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SUH SEUNG WON: SIMULTANEITY 1970-PRESENT

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

As an early member of the Dansaekhwa art movement, Suh Seung-Won (b. 1941) presents the theoretical basis for Korean modernism. For over 50 years, Suh has expressed his aesthetic views on the simultaneity of time and space through his exploration of interactions between geometric patterns and backgrounds.

Suh’s firm investment into this aesthetic philosophy and the consistency of his artwork over the past 50 years is a remarkable feat of consistency, maintaining relevance in a dialogue of temporary aesthetics constantly in flux.

According to Suh, “simultaneity enables the unseen to be seen, ensuring that what is happening in the world of nirvana or ‘beyond dark’ could be represented through me.” Around 1990, the rigid geometric forms found in Suh’s previous work began to disappear, creating new depths of space composed of smoothly overlapping rectangular forms. This new approach expanded on the artist’s exploration of visible and invisible reality by creating canvases which appear monochrome from a distance, but upon closer examination are revealed to be composed of a variety of colors.

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with Donghwa Cultural Foundation.

 

Suh Seung Won: Simultaneity

February 7 – April 19, 2019

Closed: Monday, March 4 to Wednesday, March 6 for renovation.

OPENING RECEPTION: Thursday, February 7, 2019

Gallery Reception | 6 PM
Gallery Talk with Kyunghee Pyun | 6:30 PM

A Korean Master of Monochrome Painting
50 Years of Challenges by Suh Seung-Won

One of the most significant masters of Dansaekhwa will be honored in his solo exhibition held at the Korea Society. This talk summarizes artistic innovations and challenges of Suh Seung-Won’s half a century career. Sequences of brush strokes and layers of paint accumulate time and space the way archaeological sediments are formulated throughout centuries. Focusing on his signature series of Simultaneity, the talk highlights aesthetic and philosophical backgrounds of Suh’s vision.

 About the Speaker

Kyunghee Pyun, Ph.D.
Kyunghee Pyun is an Assistant Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology, State University of New York. Her scholarship focuses on history of collecting, reception of Asian art, diaspora of Asian artists, and Asian American visual culture. She was a Leon Levy fellow in the Center for the History of Collecting at the Frick Collection and works on a book project entitled Discerning Languages for Exotic: Collecting Asian Art. Her new book, Fashion, Identity, Power in Modern Asia focuses on modernized dress in the early 20th-century Asia and was just published by the Palgrave Macmillan in 2018.

As an independent curator, she has collaborated with Asian American artists in New York since 2013. Her recent projects were the Violated Bodies: New Languages for Justice and Humanity held at The Anya and Andrew Shiva Gallery, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Postmodernism and Aesthetics: Collide or Steer at the Korean Cultural Center, New York, both held in 2018.

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: 10 AM – 4:30 PM by appointment

For more information, please contact info@koreasociety.org or call (212) 759-7525.

 

Join our membership program here!

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Kwang Young Chun: Aggregation

Posted on by Yurim Oh

October 12 – November 20, 2018 | 

Kwang Young Chun is a Korean artist best known for his acclaimed Aggregation series, which features wall-embracing three-dimensional sculptures of triangular forms wrapped in traditional Korean mulberry paper, hanji. The small, individual triangles are grouped together and arranged by the artist to form harmonious works of art. Inspired by childhood memories, the artist continues to use consistent materials and techniques to preserve his cultural heritage.

Kwang Young Chun: Aggregation will be displayed at The Korea Society gallery from October 12 to November 20.

Chun’s solo exhibition will also be showcased at the Brooklyn Museum from November 16 to July 2019.

This exhibition is curated by Sunny Shin.

 

 

KWANG YOUNG CHUN: AGGREGATION Opening Reception

Friday, October 12, 2018 | 6 PM

Artist Talk & Closing Reception

Thursday, November 15, 2018 | 12 PM

@ The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

Gallery hours: M-Th: 10 AM – 4:30 PM | F: 10 AM – 2:30 PM | by appointment

In observance of the Veterans Day, the Korea Society’s office will be closed on Monday, November 11, 2018

For more information, please contact Yoonjin (YJ) Choi or call (212) 759-7525 / Ext#307.

 

Join our membership program here!

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This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

 

Prometheus: The Art of Tchah Sup Kim

Posted on by Yurim Oh

2016 10 13 gallery-opening Tchah-Sup-Kim icon2

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 Seoul National University in 1963 and represented Korea at the Biennale de Paris in 1966. In 1974, a scholarship from the Rockefeller Foundation enabled him to study at the Pratt Institute in New York.

Kim’s work was exhibited in the National Print Exhibition, 20th Biennial: 30 Years of American Printmaking at the The Brooklyn Museum (1976), Prints: Acquisitions, 1973-1976 at the Museum of Modern Art (1977), and Six Artists from Korea at the Grace Borgenicht Gallery (1995). The Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Gwachon, Korea, the Library of Congress, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Cincinnati Art Museum all include Kim’s work in their permanent collections.

 

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Dongwha Cultural Foundation.

 

October 13, 2016 – January 6, 2017


Gallery Opening

Thursday, October 13, 2016 | 6 PM

 

FREE with RSVP

The Korea Society Gallery
950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022 (Corner of 57th & 3rd)

Gallery Hours: M-F, 10 AM-5 PM

 

 For more information, please contact Jahee Yu or call at 212-759-7525 ext. 301.

 

NYCulture current inverted white logo

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

 

 

Body and Spirit Moon Jars by Park Boo Won

Posted on by Yurim Oh

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 ceramist Ji Soontag. In the 1970s, Park began to add expressive hues and natural textures to the traditional moon jar through a firing process that permits wind, temperature, and humidity to determine the shape and color of a piece. In this way, Park believes the clay “body” of the jar is animated by the “spirit” of the fire—with the final result solely in the hands of God.

Park has been named the first “Master Potter of Royal Ceramics” by the government of Kwangju, Kyŏnggi—the center for court pottery in the Chosŏn era. His works are part of the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution, The National Folk Museum of Korea, the Incheon World Ceramic Center, the Korea Ceramic Foundation, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This exhibition is presented in collaboration with the Dongwha Cultural Foundation.

 

March 17 – May 20, 2016

 

Gallery Opening

Thursday, March 17, 2016 | 6 PM

 

FREE to Public

The Korea Society Gallery
950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022 (Corner of 57th & 3rd)

Gallery Open Daily, M-F, 10 AM-5 PM

 

NYCulture current inverted white logo

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

 

 

Young Shik Kim

Posted on by Yurim Oh

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 Art Center in Seoul, and she and her daughter presented a two-person show in both Konjiam and Seoul.

Young Shik Kim lives and works in South Korea. She is a member of the Korea Fine Arts Association and the Korea Folk Arts (Minwha) Association. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Ashland University.

  

Thursday, February 18, 2016 | 6 PM

Gallery Opening

 

FREE with RSVP

 

The Korea Society Gallery
950 Third Avenue, 8th Floor, New York, NY 10022 (Corner of 57th & 3rd)

Gallery Open Daily, M-F, 10 AM-5 PM

For more information, please contact  Luz Lanzot

 

NYCulture current inverted white logo

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.

 

 

Miindo, Velazquez and Ants: Gallery Exhibition

Posted on by Yurim Oh

 

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 between the traditional and the hi-tech—a tension that is also characteristic of contemporary Korean society.

Lee’s art has been exhibited at the 2015 Venice Biennale, the Bolshoi Theater, New York’s Museum of Art and Design, the Moscow Biennale, the Kobe Biennale, and the Smithsonian. His works are in the permanent collections of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Yale University, The National Museum of Korea, and the Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art.

 

Thursday, November 12, 2015 | 6 PM

Gallery Opening

 

FREE with RSVP

 

The Korea Society Gallery

Gallery Open Daily, M-F, 10 AM-4:30 PM

For more information, please contact Jahee Yu

 

NYCulture current inverted white logo

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.