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, while the other seven were on loan.
This first comprehensive group exhibition dedicated to this type of art in New York featured artists Chung Chang Sup, Chung Sang-Hwa, Ha Chong-Hyun, Kim Whan-ki, Lee Ufan, Park Seo-Bo, Rhee Seundja, and Yun Hyong-Keun. To this group of painters, creating art is to form and conceive nature in their own minds, to return to nature and ultimately become one with it. Pursuing abstraction based on content and meaning, these Korean artists differ from Western formalist abstract artists, in that their work expresses the essence of Korean abstract art of forming nature.
From Winds, 1986 Lee Ufan Oil on canvas; 162.2 x 130 cm
Ecriture No. 41-75, 1975 Park Seo-Bo Oil and pencil on canvas; 130 x 162 cm.
Private Tour of Dansaekhwa Korean Abstract Art
@ Christie’s New York 20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, NY 10020
Three Korean authors, Seongmin Ahn, Christina Kang, and Katie Bomi Son, shared their respective experiences as an artist, an art advisor/consultant, and art-event organizer, as well as the inspirations behind writing books on New York’s art scene.
New York Insiders by Korean Outsiders
with Seongmin Ahn, Katie Bomi Son, and Christina Kang
If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
About the AuthorsAbout the Moderator
Seongmin Ahn
Seongmin Ahn received her B.F.A. and M.F.A. in Asian traditional painting from Seoul National University in Seoul Korea and her second M.F.A from Maryland Institute College of Art. With practical experience and a deep understanding of tradition, her work takes Asian traditional painting as a starting point and transforms it into something experimental with her own interpretation bridging tradition and modern, East and West. She is a recipient of the Pollock Krasner Foundation grant and the top prize from AHL Foundation. She has also been reviewed on Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, NY Arts magazine, Baltimore Sun, Plain Dealer, and others. Her national and international exhibitions include solo shows including, but not limited to Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts (Wilmington, DE), Queens College Art Center (Flushing, NY), Gallery Ho (New York, NY), White Wall Gallery (Seoul, Korea) and Gomez Gallery (Baltimore, MD). She also has taught Asian traditional painting at different institutions such as the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Queens Museum of Art, Art Students League, and Korean Cultural Service.
Katie Bomi Son
CEO & Founder of Project AA * Asian Arts, Katie Bomi Son specializes in art & culture collaboration, branding and contents marketing company for Asian artists based in Asia & New York. She graduated from Seoul National University with B.F.A in Business Administration, Science, and English. While she worked as an enthusiastic marketer at Johnson & Johnson, Katie Bomi Son was selected as a member of World Economic Forum, Global Shapers Community (GSC, since July 2012) in Seoul, Korea. She is also an optometrist, author, volunteer, traveler, blogger, and active lecturer. Her first book The Greatest Selfish Global Volunteer Trips (세상에서 가장 이기적인 봉사여행, 2011) is a book about her experience in traveling around 25 countries and volunteering in 6 countries. Her most recent book, New York Artists (뉴욕 아티스트, 2014), is a story about meeting and interviewing more than 100 people in the art industry, especially in New York City. As a passionate supporter of the global art & culture, healthcare, and youth sides of development, Katie Bomi Son believes making a better world is one of the most valuable things we can do.
Christina Kang
Christina H. Kang attended College du Leman International School in Geneva, Switzerland and obtained her B.F.A in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design. Ms. Kang completed her M.A in Visual Arts Administration at New York University and has worked in the primary and secondary markets in both Korea and New York, with affiliations to Christie’s, Museum of Arts and Design and several leading New York City galleries. In Seoul, she is an art advisor in the art and design divisions of major corporations and art institutions where she collaborated with artists, designers and architects. She is also an avid art collector. Currently, Kang is an adjunct professor at Ewha Womans University Graduate School of Design and an author of The Collectors (2014) and The Artists (2015). She successfully launched 2015 Design Art Work (DAW Fair) in Seoul, Korea.
Liz Yisun Kwon is a New York-based curator, writer, and art consultant. Kwon’s exhibitions, writings, and publications have been introducing the artists in New York to the Korean art communities, bridging New York and Seoul. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art Education from Korea University, and Master’s degrees in Art Theory and in Arts and Cultural Management from Seoul National University and the Pratt Institute, respectively. Beginning her career at the Noguchi Museum and the Guggenheim in New York, her involvement in the art community inspired her to expand her works into diverse projects. While serving as the director of the Yace Gallery and the Project Manager at NY Projects Inc., an international art advisory company, Kwon organized a wide range of international art and design projects. In addition to her current title as the Director of Gallery HO in Chelsea, she is an avid art critic and writer whose publications include Museums Make New York Peculiar (뉴욕의 특별한 미술관, 2012). She is also a board member of uJung Art Center and uJung Foundation in Seoul.
The Korea Society and KoreanAmericanStory.org presented an evening of readings by acclaimed Korean adoptee writers. Matthew Salesses, Milton Washington, Heather Schultz, and Kim Sunee shared their unique voices and powerful stories as they read works both new and old. A panel discussion moderated by Korean adoptee and KAS Board Chair Julie Young followed the readings.
Thursday, September 17, 2015 | 6:30 PM
If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tybergor (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
About KoreanAmericanStoryAbout the Authors
KoreanAmericanStory’s mission is to capture and preserve the Korean American experience through personal stories. The organization wholly embraces the many different groups of Korean-Americans, including adoptees, the LGBTQ community and mixed race Korean-Americans. Signature projects, such as The Legacy Project video series, showcase the personal stories of members of the Korean American community from a first person perspective. All of the content created by and for KoreanAmericanStory is being permanently archived in the Korean Heritage Library of the University of Southern California.
Matthew Salesses was adopted from Korea. He is the author of The Hundred-Year Flood. His stories and essays have appeared in NPR, The New York Times, the Center for Asian American Media, Hyphen, Koream, Korean American Story, and others. His previous books include Different Racisms: On Stereotypes, the Individual, and Asian American Masculinity (essays) and I’m Not Saying, I’m Just Saying (a novel).
Born in South Korea, Milton was adopted and brought to the states in 1979 where he learned English and the American culture. Today he lives in Harlem and operates a boutique production and photography business called Slickyboy Studios while completing his memoir by the same name—Slickyboy. His memoir, Slickyboy, tells the story of a fatherless black boy who was born to a Korean prostitute a decade and-a-half after the Korean War. Left to roam his camptown with a pack of homeless kids, little Milton-ah fights, steals, and drinks while his mother works long hours. All until the age of 8, when he’s adopted from the country that never claimed him, by a black military family from Texas, the Washingtons. Slickyboy is about the love and the loss of one mother, and a finding of another, with a lifetime of living in between.
Heather Schultz is a Korean-American journalist based in Long Island. She received both a Bachelor of Arts in journalism and Master of Public Administration from CUNY Baruch College. Her articles have been published in The New York Times, NBC News, New York Daily News, St. Louis-Post Dispatch, WhoSay, Library Journal, Direct Marketing News and Law Technology News. She has also written columns on reproductive health for the Center for American Progress and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. As an avid spoken word lover, she has performed long-form poems in New York City based on her upcoming memoir regarding her experiences as an adoptee and domestic violence survivor in suburban Long Island. In addition, Heather is on the Board of Directors of Also-Known-As.
Kim Sunée was born in South Korea, adopted, and raised in New Orleans. She is the author of the national bestseller, Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home (Grand Central Publishing). Trail of Crumbs has been translated into Korean, Chinese, and Hebrew. Her cookbook, A Mouthful of Stars was published in May 2014 by Andrews McMeel. She has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Ladies’ Homes Journal, People, ELLE, and Glamour. She ate and lived in Europe–mostly France–for ten years before working as a food editor for Southern Living magazine and Cottage Living magazine. Her writing has appeared in Food & Wine, The Oxford American, Cooking Light, and Asian American Poetry and Writing. Sunée has appeared several times as a guest judge on the Food Network’s Iron Chef America. She is currently a food columnist for Alaska Dispatch and freelances as a recipe tester, editor, and food stylist. For more food and travel, please visit www.kimsunee.com.
Supported by Also-Known-As
About Also-Known-As
The mission of Also-Known-As, Inc. is to empower the voice of adult international adoptees, build cultural bridges, transform perceptions of race, and acknowledge the loss of the birth country, culture, language and biological family experienced by international adoptees.
Korean History in Maps provides overviews of the political, cultural, economic, and social systems for each period of Korean history, along with chronologies and lists of monarchs. With numerous images of artifacts, paintings, and architectural structures, the atlas helps to make Korean history accessible in a beautifully presented, full-color coverage of all periods of Korean history from prehistoric times to the present day.
If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tybergor (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
About the Speaker
Michael D. Shin is a lecturer in Korean Studies at the University of Cambridge. His research focuses on the Japanese colonial period (1910–45), and he has published many articles on the intellectual, literary, and social history of the early twentieth century. .
After earning his BA at Harvard, he spent two years in Seoul learning Korean, and it was there that he decided to go into Korean Studies. He entered the MA program in Asian Studies at the University of California at Berkeley intending to study sociology or anthropology. However, for his MA thesis, he did research on the Tongnip sinmun, the first vernacular newspaper in Korea, and he enjoyed it so much that he decided to study Korean history instead. For his Ph.D., he moved to the Department of History at the University of Chicago. His dissertation examined the emergence of the discourse of the nation through the works of the writer Yi Gwangsu. During his graduate studies, he spent a total of three years in Korea, and he also spent one year in Japan at the Inter-University Center for Advanced Language Studies. From 2001, he taught in the Department of Asian Studies at Cornell University and then moved to Cambridge in the fall of 2008.
Watch Antique Bakery, a lighthearted buddy comedy with a dark mystery, and enjoy delicious Korean pastries and patbingsu (shaved ice with sweet beans and other toppings)!
The Dessert Every Korean neighborhood now has a Western bakery, but each has added a distinctly Korean twist with Korean flavors and sweetness to the pastries! We’ll sample several tasty Korean pastries and make patbingsu, Korea’s most popular summer dessert.
The Movie Based on the popular Japanese manga series Antique Bakery, the 2008 Korean comedy film Antique Bakery is about an heir to the family fortune who sets up a cake shop with a gay chef and two other friends. While trying to make a go of the bakery, they get caught up in a series of child abductions.
Wednesday, August 12, 2015 | 6 PM
Advanced ticket purchase required for this event. Space is limited.
Members: $10
Nonmembers: $20
If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
Culinary instructor Shin Kim returns to The Korea Society to introduce a variety of fresh Korean salads for summer menus. In this hands-on workshop, learn how to make four different salads and dressings: ssukgat dubu muchim (crown daisy and crumbled tofu with sesame dressing), sangchu geotjeori (lettuce salad with kimchi dressing), miyeok chogochujang muchim (seaweed salad with gochujang-vinegar dressing), and hwachae (summer fruit salad). Eat Korean healthy this summer!
Wednesday, July 29, 2015 | 6 PM
Advanced ticket purchase required for this event. Space is limited.
Members: $25
Nonmembers: $35
If you have any questions, please contact Jamie Tyberg or (212) 759-7525, ext. 321.
Culinary programs are generously sponsored by SK.
About the Instructor
Shin Kim, a native of Seoul, Korea, is the founder ofBanchan Story, a culinary service company that shares stories of Korean culture through fun and delicious Korean dishes.
She completed her business education at the University of Chicago’s MBA Program and her culinary training at the Institute of Culinary Education, and subsequently refined her craft at some of New York’s finest Michelin-starred restaurants, including Jean Georges, Gilt, and Adour.
Shin shares her passion for Korean food and its stories in recreational cooking classes at select locations in New York City as well as private workshops for corporate clients and educational institutions interested in Korean heritage, culture, and food. She also applies her bi-cultural Korean-American expertise through various projects including translation of recipes and on-site interpretation of cooking demos.
She also expresses her passion for Korean culture through her writing of articles about hidden Korean gems in New York City that have appeared in The Korea Times, The Korea Herald and Yonhap News.
The Korea Society presents the best of Korea cinema at the largest exhibition of Asian films in the United States. The festival will be attended by director Im Soon-rye, producers Shin Bum-soo & NAM Jung-Il from Whistleblower, director Lee Won-Suk from The Royal Tailor, and director Boo Ji-young, producer Shim Jae-myung from Cart.
View the full schedule for the 14th New York Asian Film Festival at Subway Cinema.
Friday, June 26 – Saturday, July 11, 2015
Best of Korea Cinema: Monday, July 6 – Thursday, July 9, 2015
SVA Theater 333 West 23rd Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues SVA Theater
Monday, July 6, 2015
8:45 PM | CART at Walter Reade Theater
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
8:45 PM | THE WHISTLEBLOWER at Walter Reade Theater
Thursday, July 9, 2015
8:30 PM | THE ROYAL TAILOR at SVA Theater
CART (103 min) 2014 카트
Monday, July 6 | 8:45 pm at Walter Reade Theater
NEW YORK PREMIERE DIR. BOO JI-YOUNG | CAST: YUM JUNG-AH, MOON JUNG-HEE, KIM YOUNG-AE, KIM KANG-WOO, HWANG JEONG-MIN, CHUN WOO-HEE SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 103 MINUTES Q&A WITH BOO JI-YOUNG and SHIM JAE-MYUNG
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.
Boo Ji-young’s follow-up to Sisters on The Road is a formidable social drama and a moral shocker. Armed with a larger budget and a stellar cast, it nonetheless maintains the same human-scale storytelling that made her debut so memorable. Based on a true story, this is a David vs Goliath tale where a group of women band together and go on strike after their big box supermarket lays off all the temporary workers to cut costs.
Although there are no marching armies, grand disasters or international incidents, no definitive statements about life, death or society, the fate of these few women, citizens like any other, but unregarded, unmoored and untamed, leave an impression of grandeur, limitless suffering, and wrath. Boo allows each character in the ensemble quiet moments that personalize the massive labor issues South Korea faces. The women, facing their own doubts, poverty and the brutality of those trying to break the strike with incredibly fervent performances from the three leads Yum Jung-ha, Moon Jung-hee and Kim Young-ae.
THE WHISTLEBLOWER (113 min) 2014 제보자
Tuesday, July 7 | 8:45 pm at Walter Reade Theater
NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE YIM SOON-RYE, 2014 SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 113 MINUTES INTRO AND Q&A w/ DIRECTOR YIM SOON-RYE
Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in the All The President’s Men of biotechnology with The Whistleblower,a powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century. Dr. Lee is a thoughtful scientist whose pioneering work with cloned stem cells is spurring talk of the Nobel prize. He is also a monster who has faked his research and when a TV producer gets involved, The Whistle Blower becomes a white-knuckle thriller where secret phone calls, boardroom confrontations, DNA analysis, and conversations that contain double, and sometimes triple, meanings are assembled into a high-performance engine designed to flood your brain with outrage. Not since Michael Mann directed The Insider has the world of corporate medical research seemed so out of control, so bleak, and so deadly.
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.
The All The President’s Men of biotechnology, Yim Soon-Rye (one of Korea’s few female directors) turns in a powerhouse thriller based on the true story of one of the biggest scientific frauds of the 21st century. Dr. Lee is a thoughtful scientist whose pioneering work with cloned stem cells is spurring talk of the Nobel Prize. He is also a monster who’s faked his research and when a TV producer gets involved, The Whistle Blower becomes a white-knuckle thriller where secret phone calls, boardroom confrontations, DNA analysis, and conversations that contain double, and sometimes triple, meanings are assembled into a high-performance engine designed to flood your brain with outrage.
THE ROYAL TAILOR (127 min) 2014 상의원
Thursday, July 9 | 8:30 pm at SVA Theater
NEW YORK PREMIERE (U.S. CONTINENTAL PREMIERE) LEE WON-SUK, 2014 | CAST: HAN SUK-KYU, KO SOO, PARK SHIN-HYE, YOO YEON-SEOK SOUTH KOREA | KOREAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES | FORMAT: DCP | 127 MINUTES INTRO and Q&A with director LEE WON-SUK
Presented with the support of Korean Cultural Service in New York.
Two years after his anarchic comedy How to Use Guys With Secret Tips, Lee Won-suk returns to New York and the silver screen with his ambitious, big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor. His second feature is set during a clash between tradition and modernity in the royal court of 18th century Korea. Han Suk-kyu plays the king’s tailor Jo Dol-seok. After serving the court for three decades, he is on the brink of rising to the rank of nobleman. But his life’s dream is threatened with the sudden appearance of young, handsome and carefree “designer” Lee Gong-jin whose radical fashion ideas quickly earn the Queen’s favor. Unlike most films about the power of art (and music), Lee lets the striking costume designs of Jo Sang-gyeong speak for themselves, without resorting to reaction shots or exposition. The film’s traditional costumes took as much as six months to create, at a cost just shy of $1 million.
A playful, fresh and daring reinvention of one of Korea’s most conservative film genres.
The New York Asian Film Festival is co-presented by Film Society of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema
Dr. Hyangjin Lee, this year’s Kim Koo Visiting Professor of Korean Studies at Harvard University, examined the evolution of anti-Communist films in South Korea. Dr. Lee explored the historical legacy of anti-Communist drama through the oppressive film policy in the pre-democratization era and the subsequent democratic transformation of South Korea. To evaluate the historical legacy of the Cold War in the identity politics of South Korean national cinema, she highlighted three films that deal with the war and national division, namely The Marines Never Returned (Lee Man-hui, 1963), Rainy Days (Yu Hyun-mok, 1979) and Spring in My Hometown (Lee Kwang-mok, 1998).
Monday, June 8, 2015 | 6:30 PM
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council.
Learn about Minhwa, Korean folk painting, from artist Seongmin Ahn in this 3 week course. Minhwa commonly refers to a genre of Korean folk art from the late Chosŏn era (17th–19th C.) and, as a popular form, conveys freshness and vitality, in contrast with the more scholarly and stern Muninhwa-style favored by the yangban, or aristocratic class. The use of vibrant primary colors and exaggerated painting styles were indicative of the taste of the middle-class, who wanted to imitate the yangban love of art, but with a touch of flamboyance. Flowers were a favorite motif and, in this workshop, you will paint peonies using distinctive Minhwa’s decorative painting techniques. Beginners, as well as all levels of experience, are welcome.
This workshop meets for a total of 7.5 hours over three sessions:
Wednesdays, June 3, 10 and 17 | 6 – 8:30 PM
Advance ticket purchase is required for this event. Space is limited.
Members: $150, Non-Members: $180
Materials included.
If you have any questions, please contact Fran Bonham or (212) 759-7525, ext. 315.
Learn about Minhwa, Korean folk painting, from artist Seongmin Ahn in this 3 week course. Minhwa commonly refers to a genre of Korean folk art from the late Chosŏn era (17th–19th C.) and, as a popular form, conveys freshness and vitality, in contrast with the more scholarly and stern Muninhwa-style favored by the yangban, or aristocratic class. The use of vibrant primary colors and exaggerated painting styles were indicative of the taste of the middle-class, who wanted to imitate the yangban love of art, but with a touch of flamboyance. Flowers were a favorite motif and, in this workshop, you will paint peonies using distinctive Minhwa’s decorative painting techniques. Beginners, as well as all levels of experience, are welcome.
This workshop meets for a total of 7.5 hours over three sessions:
Wednesdays, June 3, 10 and 17 | 6 – 8:30 PM
Advance ticket purchase is required for this event. Space is limited.
Members: $150, Non-Members: $180
Materials included.
If you have any questions, please contact Fran Bonham or (212) 759-7525, ext. 315.
