Art Busan (5–7 May 2023) kicked off at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) today with plenty of paintings, a spotlight on AI, and a strong showing from emerging artists.
We went home thinking about three booths—Cylinder, Jason Haam and, Australian artist Daniel Boyd's solo presentation with Kukje Gallery.
The Seoul-based Cylinder was a new discovery for the team. The gallery, which opened in 2020, featured works by Sebastian Burger, Tristan Pigott, and Korean artists Jonghwan Lee and Rim Park. The young gallery encapsulated the figurative and photo-realist style that seems to be favoured among younger painters emerging today.
Jason Haam boasted the pared back palettes of Jungwook Kim and Moka Lee alongside comparatively vibrant paintings by Jonathan Gardner and Daniel Sinsel. Sinsel's works seemed almost at home among the abundance of kawaii at BEXCO, yet stood out for its more refined composition.
One of Korea's leading galleries, Kukje was unsurprisingly front and centre at BEXCO. For Art Busan, both Korean and international artists were well represented, with works by Ha Chong Hyun, Park Seo-Bo, Oscar Murillo, and a colourful stacked rock sculpture by Ugo Rondinone.
However, it was their solo booth by Australian artist Daniel Boyd in the fair's 'FUTURE' sector, dedicated to emerging galleries showing up-and-coming artists, that caught our eye.
Although neither Kukje Gallery nor Daniel Boyd are 'emerging' or 'up-and-coming'—Daniel Boyd recently had a major institutional show, Treasure Island (4 June 2022–29 January 2023) at the Art Gallery of NSW—it was great to see the Australian artist in Busan.
The presentation featured a selection of his paintings, referencing historical photographs, his own personal history, and Australia's cultural past. Partly obscured through a plane of purple dots, taking centre stage in the booth was Untitled (EINWIS) (2023), which depicts a Ni-Vanuatu man brandishing his bow and arrow.
