[Exhibition of the Week] Lee Kun-hee Collection: Lee Jung-seop Exhibition · Lim Young-kyun: Antarctica and Others

Cuverville Island, 2009 ⓒ Lim Young-gyun, Photo by Yehwarang

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] ▲Lim Youngkyun Photo Exhibition ‘Antarctica’ = Photographer Lim Youngkyun’s Antarctica photo exhibition ‘Antarctica’ is being held at Yehwarang in Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul until the 27th. Lim Youngkyun’s photographs are praised as ‘meditative photography’ that goes beyond the act of capturing subjects to approach the essence of the subject, leading viewers into a deep world of contemplation. His photos, as seen by the audience, are works imbued with profound artistry, more like viewing a painting than mere documentation.

Lim, who is also famous for documenting the life and artistic world of Nam June Paik for over 20 years, was described by Nam June Paik during his lifetime as “one of Korea’s representative artists pursuing the spiritual essence through objects.” In the contemporary photography world, where all kinds of advanced techniques and digital hardware are employed, Lim is a representative ‘analog-type’ artist who has insisted on using manual cameras and black-and-white photography for 30 years.

Paradise Harbor II, 2008 ⓒLim Young-gyun, Photo courtesy of Yehwarang.

The artist, who has captured people and objects encountered in daily life as if writing a diary, changed his photographic subject during his visiting professorship at New York University (NYU) in 2008. Since then, he has been visiting the Antarctic continent and the Amazon River every year to capture the world of absolute nature untouched by human footsteps in his works.

This Antarctic photo exhibition presents various close-up photos facing glaciers head-on. Among thousands of photos taken during four visits to Antarctica since 2008, five large-scale works printed on canvas measuring 2.3m wide and 1.6m high are the centerpiece. These are not simple landscape photos but pure worlds that seem to show things that exist in reality but are not in reality, allowing viewers to momentarily forget the complexity of reality and the mind through his Antarctic photos. The exhibition runs until the 27th at Yehwarang, Sinsa-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul.

Two Children with Fish and Crab, early 1950s, pen on paper, oil, 32.8×20.3cm. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lee Kun-hee Collection

▲Lee Kun-hee Collection: Lee Jung-seop Exhibition = The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) is holding the ‘Lee Kun-hee Collection Special Exhibition: Lee Jung-seop’ at the Seoul branch until April 23 next year.

This exhibition features about 80 works by Lee Jung-seop from the 1,488 pieces donated by the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee to the MMCA in April 2021, along with 10 Lee Jung-seop works previously held by the MMCA, showcasing a total of about 90 works by Lee Jung-seop. Among the Lee Kun-hee Collection, Lee Jung-seop’s works are the third largest after Yoo Youngkuk and Pablo Picasso among domestic and international artists, and have the highest proportion in painting and drawing.

Among the exhibited works, ‘Chicken and Chick’ (early 1950s) and ‘Children Playing in Water’ (early 1950s) are being revealed for the first time through the Lee Kun-hee Collection. Also, ‘Dancing Family’ (early 1950s) and ‘Hands and Birds’ (early 1950s), which were exhibited in the 1980s, are returning to the audience after a long time.

Chicken and Chickens, Early 1950s, Oil on paper, 30.5×51cm. National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Lee Kun-hee Collection.

The MMCA’s Lee Jung-seop collection now totals 115 works, including 11 previously held pieces such as ‘Couple’ (1953) and ‘Fighting Roosters’ (1953), plus 104 works donated from the Lee Kun-hee Collection. Notably, 40 postcard paintings created in the 1940s are largely held, with 36 exhibited this time, and the number of silver foil paintings has increased from 3 to 30, with 27 exhibited.

Lee Jung-seop (1916?1956) is a representative artist of the Korean art scene during the Japanese colonial period and the post-liberation era. This exhibition introduces Lee Jung-seop’s artistic world divided into the 1940s and 1950s. The 1940s feature pencil drawings and postcard paintings created during his study in Japan and his time in Wonsan, while the 1950s showcase his prime works painted in Jeju Island, Tongyeong, Seoul, and Daegu, including silver foil paintings and letter paintings. The exhibition combines materials and chronology to reflect both the artist and the human Lee Jung-seop, revealing various facets of his character. The exhibition runs until April 23 next year at the MMCA Seoul branch.

Delivery Dancer's Sphere, 2022, 1 Channel video, LED panel video 2, about 24 min. Photo by Gallery Hyundai

▲Kim Ahyoung Video & Installation Exhibition: Syntax and Sorcery = “The road, the time, stretches its tail long and endlessly recedes, and also approaches from afar. The signal sent by the Global Positioning System (GPS), responding to the signal flying from outside this huge sphere, endlessly newly embroidered and infinitely generated along the road... Somewhere in the shadow shown by the cam between strange separations, at the corner of the road I passed, I saw myself again.” ? Kim Ahyoung, from ‘Delivery Dancer’s Sphere’

Gallery Hyundai is holding Kim Ahyoung’s solo exhibition ‘Syntax and Sorcery’ until September 14. Kim Ahyoung is an artist gaining attention in the domestic and international art world by reconstructing historical facts such as modern Korean history, geopolitics, transportation, and transnational movement, as well as contemporary sharp issues, into complex narratives through extensive research. She crosses boundaries of media including video, sound, performance, novels, and texts, creating multidimensional and fluid stories through speculative narration/fiction making, narrativity, world-building, and myth-making. Her works, notable for their original approach and imagination beyond conventional video aesthetics, have been presented at international exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale, Asian Art Biennale, Gwangju Biennale, Busan Biennale, Palais de Tokyo, MMCA, and Leeum Museum of Art, as well as prestigious institutions at home and abroad.

This exhibition unfolds the story of female delivery rider Ernst Mo (a rearrangement of the letters in Monster). Ernst Mo lives in a fictional city Seoul, situated between techno-orientalism and Asian futurism, and is a rider belonging to the powerful delivery platform Delivery Dancer. Here, riders are called dancers. Dancers are classified hierarchically as General Dancer, Power Dancer, Master Dancer, and God’s Dancer, with the highest ability classified as Ghost Dancer.

Orbit Dance West, 2022, brass, nickel, 60 x 72.5 x 60 cm. Photo by Gallery Hyundai

Ernst Mo is a Ghost Dancer. The Delivery Dancer’s AI algorithm system and the Dancemaster, which records, manages, and supervises delivery riders’ routes and loyalty, has god-like spiritual power, compressing and twisting space-time like teleportation, enabling dancers to deliver as fast as light. The Dancemaster’s navigation calculates and informs riders of the shortest straight-line routes from departure to destination. The infinitely received delivery calls and infinitely generated delivery routes like tentacles form a maze that induces delirium. Dancers, following commands from the app device receiving Dancemaster’s calculations, race tirelessly through city zones A, B, C, D, and E as if dancing.

Through this exhibition, the artist presents a total of 11 new works including video, wallpaper installation, and sculptures, based on the complex and subtle relationships of Ernst Mo and En Storm existing in a multi-dimensional space-time world, their conflicts, compassion, love, and the illogical and nonlinear narrative structure. The exhibition runs until September 14 at Gallery Hyundai, Sagan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.