EGN NEWS DESK
In the Seongdong neighborhood of hipster bars and pedestrian streets crowded with the nicely heeled, the Page Gallery has made a reputation for itself in a neighborhood the place it’s exhausting to get seen.
And because the gallery seeks to department out past Seoul, it is going to attend TEFAF Maastricht, the European Fine Art Foundation’s annual March truthful, taking the works of six South Korean artists. Since this shall be Page Gallery’s first main artwork truthful exterior of Asia, gallery executives see this occasion as a little bit of a launchpad for itself and its roster of artists, lots of them Korean.
“We try to provide some recent air to the youthful artists, and we have been accepted this 12 months at TEFAF Maastricht after making use of just a few instances,” mentioned Andy Ilwoo Huh, 31, affiliate director of the Page Gallery, throughout a latest tour on a freezing Seoul afternoon. “We are very a lot searching for the response of the conservative European collectors. We are increasing our program and actions across the globe, so TEFAF is one among our first steps.”
That method is about capitalizing on the present world visibility of the humanities in South Korea in the previous few years, Mr. Ilwoo Huh mentioned, and in some methods about educating world collectors in regards to the versatility of Korean artwork. The nation’s artwork is rooted within the unstable historical past of the Korean War and the a long time after, nevertheless it’s additionally about new generations of artists who need to make a reputation for themselves exterior South Korea, he mentioned.
With this in thoughts, the Page Gallery, based in 2011, is taking a group of artists to TEFAF Maastricht that the gallery feels represents the historical past — and future — of South Korean artwork. The gallery is in Galleria Forêt, or the Seoul Forest because it’s known as domestically, an unique 45-story condo constructing with interiors designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel, an instance of old-meets-new in one among Seoul’s most fashionable neighborhoods.
“We are specializing in how Korean modern arts circulate from one of many oldest artists, a part of the Dansaekhwa motion, up till artists born in 1969,” Mr. Ilwoo Huh mentioned. “Dansaekhwa artists have been the lecturers of lots of at present’s artists, so there’s a form of trigger and impact in Korean artwork historical past.” (The nation’s Dansaekhwa motion is outlined by its monochrome summary work.)
One of the artists whose work will go to Maastricht is Chong Gon Byun, 75. The gallery simply completed a solo exhibition of his work in February and can take 4 of his items to Maastricht.
Mr. Byun fled South Korea in 1981 fearing that he can be jailed by the navy dictatorship on the time over his provocative political paintings. He went to New York on a scholar visa (and ultimately gained U.S. citizenship) however was invited again to South Korea simply earlier than the 1988 Olympics. He has freely traveled to the nation since.
“When I got here to New York I couldn’t imagine how a lot freedom individuals had, and the issues that individuals throw out are attention-grabbing to me,” Mr. Byun mentioned. “It’s virtually like an expression of getting an excessive amount of freedom. There is a lot right here, however in South Korea in my youth we had nothing to throw out.”
This idea performs into a lot of Mr. Byun’s work. His latest present was a smorgasbord of mechanical objects, portraits and steel objects. One piece from the exhibition that can journey to Maastricht is “Last Supper” (2011). Like lots of his works, it’s a discarded object made new once more.
“I discovered the plaster sculpture of the Last Supper at a flea market in New York, and I spray-painted all of it white, however I stored Jesus within the authentic coloration of beige and orange,” mentioned Mr. Byun, who considers himself a Christian. “I additionally wished to guard him, so I gave him a helmet that in all probability got here from a doll. He can be holding a bit from a scale. He controls his world.”
Freedom — and a childhood in a really totally different South Korea than at present — can be an idea that performs into the works of Choi Myoung Young, 82, who defected from North Korea to South Korea as a boy through the Korean War. Mr. Choi, who was educated at Hongik University, was additionally a part of the Korean Avant-Garde Association within the Nineteen Seventies.
“Choi Myoung Young is a key character within the Dansaekhwa motion, however he’s very quiet and all the time works by himself and doesn’t actually care about artwork gross sales,” Mr. Ilwoo Huh mentioned. “I believe his fashion, like most of the Dansaekhwa artists, got here from their childhoods through the conflict. There was nothing for younger youngsters to play with, so that they performed with issues in nature like stones, earth, mud and sand.”
This is mirrored in a lot of Mr. Choi’s minimalist patterned works. His works at Maastricht shall be a part of his “Conditional Planes” collection that began within the Nineteen Seventies, which give attention to the elegant minimalism so linked to Dansaekhwa. The Page Gallery additionally will characteristic Mr. Choi’s works solely at TEFAF New York in May.
“After the Korean War, the restoration of custom and the modernization of Korean society triggered artists to attempt for one thing new,” Mr. Choi mentioned by e-mail (he doesn’t depart the home a lot due to his superior age). “I’m a part of a dedication by artists to the speculation of discount and growth that originates from the 4 seasons, the Korean view of nature, Eastern philosophy and the self-discipline of Confucianism that embodies a minimalistic way of life and philosophy.”
The different 4 artists whose work shall be featured in Maastricht are Yeesookyung, who spells her Korean title with out areas or hyphens and is a efficiency artist turned sculptor; Jeomsoo Na, who works largely in summary sculptures; Park Suk Won, whose minimalist sculptures have been featured in an exhibition on the Page Gallery that ended not too long ago; and Suejin Chung, who will even have a solo exhibition on the Page Gallery from August to October through the Frieze Seoul artwork truthful.
Three of Ms. Chung’s items will journey to Maastricht, together with “The Last Scenery of Mind” (2023), a hodgepodge of photos: faces, items of bread, animal shapes.
“In common, my works are impressed by airplane surfaces, and I see them because the consciousness, which is like the start line.” Ms. Chung, 55, mentioned not too long ago over coffee on the gallery. “What intrigues me essentially the most is that individuals see a portray as two-dimensional, however my view is that it’s not. Our eyes can solely see three-dimensional objects. I imagine that we are able to expertise the multidimensional world via the colour form kinds. They are the widespread denominators.”
There is a smaller and quieter piece, “Ice Breaking” (2022), which she described as easier and extra fluid than a lot of her work and as honoring the roots of her artwork schooling in South Korea.
“Maybe our professors’ generations have been extra inclined to look to overseas cultures as a result of they’re extra superior, however in our era that concept begins to fade away,” Ms. Chung mentioned. “Our professors’ era affected us, however we’re searching for our personal creative language.”
It’s that concept that’s on the core of what the Page Gallery hopes to painting at TEFAF Maastricht because it blends the historical past and way forward for South Korean artwork.
“Many individuals assume that Dansaekhwa is simply overly hyped, nevertheless it’s the important thing to Korean modern artwork historical past as a result of these artists are the touchstone to the following era,” Mr. Ilwoo Huh mentioned. “It’s essential to spotlight this circulate from outdated to new artwork in Korea.”
