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It’s crazy hot and humid here in Seoul, Korea, so what better way to spend a muggy afternoon than perusing the (air-conditioned) halls of the top art galleries and art museums in Seoul? Here are the latest art shows and art exhibitions in Seoul, South Korea during the month of July 2020.

As always during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, don’t forget to bring your face mask! Many art museums and galleries in Seoul will deny entry if you don’t wear one.

Prince/Picasso

Richard Prince and Picasso via The Page Gallery

This small exhibition includes 10 works each by Richard Prince (collage) and Picasso (ceramics), and it will be held from June 26th, 2020 to July 31st, 2020 at The Page Gallery (G205 Galleria Foret, 32-14 Seoulsup 2-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul).

Some of the designs are shapes inspired by Greek mythology or ancient pottery work found by the Aegean Sea. Picasso created the pieces when he was in Vallauris in southern France. While vacationing in Cote D’Azur of France in 1946, Picasso visited the annual pottery exhibition in Vallauris. He learned pottery from Suzanne and Georges Ramie of Madoura Atelier. Since then he maintained 25 years of relationship with the atelier designing more than 4,000 ceramic pieces of 600 types.

In this exhibition, however, Richard Prince’s collage works steal the spotlight. The works have been exhibited at the Picasso Museum in Malaga in 2012, created by tearing the pictures out of Picasso’s art brochures and creating them in his own style. Seeing Picasso’s paintings, torn, fringed and cut out, appears as if Prince is saying that he is as good as Picasso. At the same time, it’s hard to take your eyes away from Picasso’s charming and freestyle ceramic work. The exhibition is open until July 31.

– Min Kim, Donga

GOODS FOR YOU

Goods For You at D Project Space

The D Project Space (126, D TOWER, 17, Jong-ro 3-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul) will be hosting young Korean artists from July 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2020 where you can also shop for merchandise.

Shiota Chiharu: Between Us

Shiota Chiharu via Gana Art Center

You can see Shiota Chiharu’s works at Gana Art Nineone (#103 Gana Art, Gourmet 494 Hannam, 91, Hannam-daero, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, 04401) from July 16th, 2020 to August 2nd, 2020, and at Gana Art Center (28, Pyeongchang 30-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03004) from July 16th, 2020 to August 23rd, 2020.

Chiharu who projects the trauma of death in her work uses a human’s finiteness and its unsettling inner side as her main subject. The artist also interprets death as the new beginning rather than “the end”, and further continues to reflect on the dichotomous boundaries, personal existence and identity that exist in the contemporary era. One of Chiharu’s most representative series is the installation piece with thread skein forming a shape of human blood vessels throughout the space. Through the complex spider web of entangled threads in a space, she visually embodies not only the agony of life and death but also the exploration on existence. Furthermore, these threads refer to the numerous interrelated thoughts and the relationships with surroundings needed to confirm one self’s identity. In essence, Chiharu continues to explore the existence and the innerness through her thread works as well as sculptures reminiscent of cells containing everyday objects which recall her memories.

Gana Art Center

OSGEMEOS: You Are My Guest

Osgemeos via Storage by Hyundai Car

Brazilian street artists, Osgemeos, are showing their first solo art exhibition in South Korea at Storage by Hyundai Car (248, Itaewon-ro, Yongsan-gu, Seoul) from July 15th, 2020 to October 11th, 2020.

Bending Light

Dan Flavin, Untitled, 1984 via Pace Gallery

Using light as their primary medium, this art exhibition presents recent works by key figures of the Light and Space movement. To see the Bending Light exhibition, visit Pace Gallery (262 Itaewon-ro, Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul) from June 5th, 2020 to August 14th, 2020.

Bringing together a focused selection of works that employ light as their primary medium, Bending Light charts the evolving affinities between Peter Alexander, Robert Irwin, James Turrell, and Dan Flavin.

Pace Gallery

Ok Seungcheol: JPEG Supply

Ok Seungcheol via Gallery Kiche

This Ok Seungcheol exhibition will be on view at Gallery Kiche (35, Bangbae-ro 42-gil, Seocho-gu, Seoul) from June 18th, 2020 to July 25th, 2020.

Wook-kyung Choi

Wook-kyung Choi via Kukje Gallery

This solo exhibition of Wook-kyung Choi will be available at Kukje Gallery (54 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu Seoul) from June 18th, 2020 to July 31st, 2020.

My experiences, as a woman and a painter, serve as a daily source for the creative inspiration necessary for my work. My paintings are collaged bits of time from my past and present experiences. Each work has its own life as the forms grow and I convey my feelings into a visual language. My paintings are about my life but I am not simply telling stories. I am trying to express, visually, my experience of the moment lived. I hope to share, to communicate, and to create an empathy for the experience.

– Wook-kyung Choi via kukje gallery

Space Opera

Space Opera Exhibition at KSD Gallery
Space Opera Exhibition (Lee Sejun) at KSD Gallery

Artist, Lee Sejun, will be displaying his works at KSD Gallery (1st Floor, Korea Securities Depository, 23 Yeouinaru-ro 4-gil, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul 07330) from July 1st, 2020 to August 12th, 2020.

Blue Bird: In Search of Happiness

Blue Bird Exhibition at Ttukseom Art Museum

The Blue Bird Art Exhibition was inspired by the story, ‘Blue Bird’ (L’Oiseau bleu), written by Belgian playwright Maurice Maeterlinck in 1908. Participating artists include: Kim Kyung-hwa, Kim Won-jin, Lam, Echo, Shin Nara, Su-ji Ji. You can see this exhibition at Ttukseom Art Museum (33 Achasan-ro, Seongdong-gu, Seoul).

In the opening scene, the two children gleefully describe the beautiful decorations and rich desserts that they see in the house of a wealthy family nearby. When Bérylune says that it is wrong for the rich not to share their cakes with Tyltyl and Mytyl, the boy corrects her. It is enough that he gets to watch others’ happiness; their joy does not create envy in him. The theme is emphasized again when the children meet the Luxuries, particularly the biggest one of all, the Luxury of Being Rich. When Tyltyl turns the diamond, the hall is bathed with a dazzling brightness, and the Luxuries run wildly in search of a dark corner where they may hide their ugliness from the ethereal light. The names of such Happinesses as Innocent Thoughts and Seeing the Stars Rise and of such Joys as Being Good and Maternal Love affirm Maurice Maeterlinck’s view that true happiness lies in simple things, particularly in the warmth of family love.

At the end of the play, Tyltyl shows what he has learned about happiness. He looks out the window at the forest and remarks how beautiful it is. The inside of the house looks much lovelier to him than it did before. Also, he creates great happiness for another by giving his pet bird, which seems much bluer than before, to the sick child.

Wikipedia (The Blue Bird)
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAfA_F2Bmxb/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Dali: Happiness

Korean illustrator, Dali via Likethiz Art Gallery

These fun, bubbly illustrations from Korean artist, Dali (Instagram), will be available from June 10th, 2020 to July 25th, 2020 at Likethiz Art Gallery (16th Floor, 116 Seosomun-ro, Seosomun-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul).

Pinocchio

You can see this kid-friendly Pinocchio art exhibition from June 26th, 2020 to October 4th, 2020 at the popular art museum in Seoul, Seoul Arts Center, Hangaram Art Museum (2406 Nambusunhwan-ro, Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul).

Cinderella Universe

Cinderella Universe at KMCA - Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Cinderella Universe at K Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, South Korea

For fans of the classic tale of Cinderella, you can see how the fairy tale is brought into the 21st century at a contemporary art museum in Seoul, KMCA (807 Seolleung-ro, Apgujeong-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul), from May 5th, 2020 to August 30th, 2020.

Meditation Mindfulness

Meditation Mindfullness at Piknic - Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Meditation Mindfulness at Piknik, Seoul

Meditation Mindfulness is an art exhibition in Seoul with the purpose of inducing mindful meditation within ourselves. The art show will be held from April 24th, 2020 to September 27th, 2020 at the art gallery, Piknik (30, Toegye-ro 6ga-gil, Jung-gu, Seoul).

Innermost

INNERMOST exhibition at Gallery Gabi in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Choejihyeon, Innermost Art Exhibition in Seoul at Gallery Gabi

This art exhibition in Seoul features two artists, Cho Ji-hyun and Nam Ji-eun, from July 3rd, 2020 to July 30th, 2020 at a local art gallery, Gallery Gabi (37, Hangang-daero 52-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul).

The two artists express the fictional unknown world in landscape painting. It can be called an inner landscape, not a realistic natural landscape, and dreams beyond the present, crossing the boundaries between the real and fictional inner and outer world realities.

Gallery Gabi

Unflattening

Unflattening, Korean War exhibition in Seoul, South Korea (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Unflattening Art Exhibition in Seoul at MMCA via mmca.go.kr

On the 70th anniversary of the Korean War, Unflattening is the working title for a new art exhibition in Seoul that depicts various stories from the war. The art show will be held at the contemporary art museum, MMCA (30 Samcheong-ro, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul), from June 25th, 2020 to September 20th, 2020.

The Pulitzer Prize Photographs

Pullitzer Prize Exhibition Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)

You can see the Pulitzer Prize Photographs on view from July 7th, 2020 to October 18th, 2020 at Seoul Arts Center, Hangaram Design Museum (2406 Nambusunhwan-ro, Seocho-dong, Seocho-gu, Seoul).

Toulouse-Lautrec: A Little Giant of Moulin Rouge

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Henri Toulouse-Lautrec exhibition in Seoul via SAC

Due to the difficulties of coronavirus, the collection did not return to Greece and remains in Seoul for an encore exhibition after the original Toulouse-Lautrec art exhibition ended earlier this year at Seoul Arts Center (Hangaram Art Museum.)

Featuring Parisian artist, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, this French art exhibition will showcase his works at the end of the 19th century at Seoul Arts Center’s Hangaram Art Museum (2406, Nambusunhwan-ro, Seocho-gu, Seoul) from Saturday, June 6th, 2020 to Sunday, September 13th, 2020.

Finding Folklore in Gisan’s Genre Paintings

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
National Folk Museum of Korea in Seoul, Korea

This special folklore exhibition will be held from May 20th, 2020 to October 5th, 2020 at the historical art museum, National Folk Museum of Korea (37 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03045).

Kim Jun-geun was a painter active from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth century. He never achieved the fame of Kim Hong-do or Shin Yun-bok, the two most prominent genre painters of the Joseon period. However, he painted a more diverse range of folk customs. His genre paintings are considered invaluable in that they depict livelihoods, food, clothing, housing, rituals, and games popular among Koreans from a century ago more vividly than the photography that was introduced to Korea in the late nineteenth century.

National Folk Museum of Korea

현대 HYUNDAI 50 PART II

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Lee Kang-So, Untitled-7812026 via Gallery Hyundai

Part two of this group art exhibition will be held at the local art gallery, Gallery Hyundai (14 Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul), from Friday, June 12th, 2020 to Sunday, July 19th, 2020. Due to coronavirus safety restrictions, reservations should be made online. Walk-in access may be allowed according to availability.

Participating artists include: Ai Weiwei, Choe U-Ram, François Morellet, Fred Sandback, Ik-Joong Kang, Iván Navarro, Jesús Rafael Soto, Kim Sung Yoon, Kwak Duck-Jun, Lee Kang-So, Lee Kun-Yong, Michael Craig-Martin, Minjung Kim, Moon Kyungwon & Jeon Joonho, Myoung Ho Lee, On Kawara, Park Minjoon, Robert Indiana, Ryan Gander, Sarah Morris, Seulgi Lee, Seung-taek Lee, The Estate of Park Hyunki, Thomas Struth, Tomás Saraceno, Yoo Geun-Taek, Yun-Hee Toh, and Zeng Fanzhi.

Part Two of Gallery Hyundai’s 50th anniversary exhibition, 현대 HYUNDAI 50, highlighting works by artists the gallery has started working with from the mid-1980s to the present. Over seventy works by thirteen foreign artists and sixteen Korean artists who share a part of the gallery’s history will be presented.

Gallery Hyundai

Bottomless Bag

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)

The Na Kim art exhibition, inspired by the movie “Inside Out” (2015), will be on view at Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (1238 Dongil-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01783) from March 26th, 2020 to September 13th, 2020.

The exhibition’s title, Bottomless Bag, is taken from the bag appearing in the animated film Inside Out (2015). Filled with the main character’s memories and their associated orbs, along with an assortment of other objects, the film’s imaginary bag was chosen to illustrate the exhibition’s core concepts of ‘memory’ and ‘collection.’

The Korean title of the exhibition references the school supply–filled ‘object bags’ sold to students in Korea during the 1980s and 1990s. Remembering this nostalgic object of the past, the exhibition hopes to examine the times and memories connected by the objects.

In this exhibition, the space itself becomes the designer’s ‘object bag,’ where the images exhibited in the space become the ‘objects’ that evoke past memories and serve as the designer’s tools for a new experiment. The exhibition invites visitors to experience the meaning of those found objects collected and archived by Na Kim inside the museum space.

SeMA

Next of Kin

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Chase Hall, All my brothers go to heavens, 2020

Group art exhibition, Next of Kin, includes works by Gina Beavers, Diedrick Brackens, Jessie Homer French, Chase Hall, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, and Calida Rawles. On view from May 30th, 2020 to July 4th, 2020 at art gallery, VSF Seoul (Dokseodang-ro 79, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 04419).

Various Small Fires is pleased to present, Next of Kin, the exhibition debut of six American artists in Seoul, South Korea. In the unsettling ups and downs of the current COVID-19 crisis, VSF has taken the opportunity this summer to focus on a universal constant: family.

Pushing beyond its biological definition, the artists capture members of their families, chosen tribes, and imagined ancestors in intimate portraits that reflect an unprecedented era of shifting priorities with an insistence on intimacy and tenderness. Essentially under house arrest, Gina Beavers, Diedrick Brackens, Jessie Homer French, Chase Hall, Cindy Ji Hye Kim, and Calida Rawles contemplate the figures at the core of their social disruption.

VSF Seoul

2020 Asia Project: Looking for Another Family

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Dew Kim, Kiss of Chaos (2020), single channel video. Commissioned by the MMCA.

The 2020 Asia Project: Looking for Another Family group art exhibition will be held from May 22, 2020 to August 23, 2020 at the modern art museum, MMCA Seoul (30 Samcheong-ro, Sogyeok-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03062). It includes works by Kang Seung Lee, Eisa Jocson, 98B COLLABoratory+HUB Make Lab+KANTINA, Yee I-Lann, Dew Kim, Isaac Chong Wai, Jong YuGyong, Wang Tuo, Atsushi Watanabe, Jatiwangi Art Factory+Budnamugage, Feminist Designer Social Club(FDSC), Tandia Permadi, South Ho Siu Nam, Ni Hao, and RESBAK.

Deploying the concept of “family” to represent social solidarity, this year’s second-edition exhibition Looking for Another Family presents Asia as a public platform on which to discuss and share diverse issues concerning the Asian territory. In this scheme, the museum serves as an open space for discussion, gathering people of all generations and socioeconomic statuses for artists and audiences to envision “another form of a family”—a fluid platform for empathy and solidarity.

Featured in this exhibition are 15 teams of artists from eight Asian countries—Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines—who depart from contemplation on their own identities to explore wider realms of consciousness: their own communities, societies, countries, and eventually, the world. The artists also offer opportunities for viewers to involve themselves in active communication not only through artworks comprising performances, photographs, and videos, but also through workshops in the forms of a snack cart, farming, an investment booth, a music video screening, a newsroom, and a roundtable discussion.

MMCA

Eva Armisén Vida

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Nueva vida (New life), 2019 by Eva Armisén

This Eva Armisén art exhibition will be held at art museum, Sejong Art Center (175, Sejongdae-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul), from June 27th, 2020 to September 20th, 2020.

Jang Koal: My Cup of Tea

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)

This solo art exhibition by Jang Koal will be on view at Everyday Mooonday Art Gallery (14, Songpa-daero 48gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul, Korea) from June 5th, 2020 to August 2nd, 2020.

SOUNDMUSEUM

Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)

A large scale group art exhibition in Seoul — filled with sound and multi-sensory experiences — shown at one of the hippest art museums in Seoul, D Museum (5-6, Dokseodang-ro 29-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul), from Tuesday, May 19th, 2020 to Sunday, December 27th, 2020.

The exhibition features 22 works across multifaceted categories, from sound installation, audience-driven performance, interactive sound installation, light art to visual music by 13 internationally recognized artists and collectives. With this exhibition, D MUSEUM is being reinvented as a new art platform where 13 sound spaces await to elicit awareness, sentiments and memories of individuals. In infinite yet transient aural world the audience will be reintroduced to the sense of hearing and guided into the journey of space, time and sound.

D Museum

Claire Tabouret: Siblings

Claire Tabouret, Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

This solo art exhibition will be shown at art gallery, Perrotin Seoul (1F 5 Palpan-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul), from Thursday, May 7th, 2020 to Friday, July 10th, 2020.

Perrotin Seoul is pleased to present Claire Tabouret’s exhibition ‘Siblings.’ Started in 2019, Claire Tabouret’s new series of portraits were initiated in a time when gatherings were frequent and interaction encouraged. The artist finished this new body of work in a context that has fundamentally changed, while we are forced into global lockdown by pandemic. Tabouret’s own outlook on her work has evolved, and these portraits serve as a reminder of the power in community and the importance of remaining connected even while we are separated. Her exhibition, Siblings, carries a certain nostalgia made heartrending by the isolation we all experience.

Perrotin

Inside Magritte

Inside Magritte (Rene Magritte), Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

This fun, surrealist René Magritte art exhibition lasts from Friday, April 10th, 2020 to Sunday, September 13th, 2020 at Insa Central Art Museum (49, Insadong-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul).

Big Eyes: Margaret Keane Retrospective

Big Eyes (Margaret Keane), Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

Made famous by the film, Big Eyes, Margaret Keane was a feminist artist who was overshadowed by her husband for many years and known for her paintings of long-faced female figures with exaggerated eyes. See her works at My Art Museum (B1, Textile Center Building, 518 Teheran-ro, Gangnam-gu, Seoul) from Wednesday, May 13th, 2020 to Sunday, September 27th, 2020.

FOR YOU: Jenny Holzer

Jenny Holzer, Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

These large-scale art installations by American Artist, Jenny Holzer, will be on view from November 23rd, 2019 to Sunday, July 5, 2020 at MMCA Seoul (30 Samcheong-ro, Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul).

FOR YOU: Jenny Holzer presents texts by Holzer and other authors selected by the artist on posters, a robotic LED display, and stone carvings. Created especially for this project, a new monumental LED artwork, FOR YOU, foregrounds the voices of women, featuring texts in Korean and English by five contemporary writers: Kim Hyesoon, Han Kang, Emily Jungmin Yoon, Svetlana Alexievich and Hawzhin Azeez. Examined together, the work of these authors reflects on diverse accounts of vulnerability and abuse of power, life and death, and the ways gender and sexuality play into violence and oppression. The sculpture resonates with our turbulent era of ongoing wars, terrorism, and violence, and the unforgettable pain of those suffering. Holzer actively engages with and addresses pressing concerns, maximizing her messages in public spaces and emphasizing their urgency and immediacy. MMCA anticipates that this project will inspire you to ask the questions evoked by the texts and listen to the voices resonating within you.

MMCA

No Space, Just A Place. Eterotopia

Daelim Museum & Gucci - No Space Just A Place. Eterotopia, Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

This Gucci-hosted art exhibition — in collaboration with writer and curator, Myriam Ben Salah — will be held at Daelim Museum (21, Jahamun-ro 4-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul) from Friday, April 17th, 2020 to Sunday, July 12th, 2020.

Taking its cue from the complex history of independent and alternative art spaces in Seoul and Gucci’s reflections on eterotopia, the exhibition proposes a new definition of what an “other space” might be: place in which the understanding of otherness comes to life.

The exhibition, curated by Myriam Ben Salah, known for her radical aesthetic vision, formulates a new definition of “being together.”

Using strong visual imagery, imbued with humor and magical realism, the participating artists playfully question the narrow perspectives of our society’s dominant discourses in a way that perfectly chimes with Gucci’s eclectic, contemporary vision.

Daelim Museum
Art Exhibitions in Seoul this July 2020 (@momotherose, momotherose.com)
Olivia Erlanger, Ida, Ida, Ida!, 2020

AU MAGASIN DE NOUVEAUTES

Hermes Art Exhibition in Seoul, Korea

This solo exhibition from the winner of the 18th Hermès Foundation Missulsang, Sojung Jun, is on view at Atelier Hermès (7, Dosan-Daero 45-Gil, Gangnam-Gu, Seoul, 06021, Korea) from Friday, May 8th, 2020 to Sunday, July 5th, 2020.

< AU MAGASIN DE NOUVEAUTES > is on the hypothesis of imaginative escape from the present by intersecting heterogeneous tempo-spatial axes – modern times and contemporary period – with a motif of early poems by poet and architect Yi Sang (1910-1937). The title of the exhibition has been appropriated from one of the poems with the same title out of his serial poetry titled < Architecture Infinite Cube> (1932) covered in ‘Joseon Geonchuk (Architecture Magazine)’. The poem is known to have been written on the theme of the Mitsukoshi Department Store which was newly built in Gyeongseong, the then capital city of Korea. The poem was an observation of the transforming city of Seoul into a space of capitalism under the colonial rule and its bustling crowd, and an ambivalent reality brought in by the modern civilization through enigmatic codes and a multi-view approach.

Maison Hermès Dosan Park

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