
BB&M is pleased to present Liquid Modernity, a group exhibition featuring Jo Jae, Haevan Lee, and Sikyung Sung, three Korean painters born in the final decade of the previous century whose practices have gained increasing recognition. Having come of age in a bewildering globalized environment inundated by information and a ubiquitous culture of consumption, these artists have developed perceptual systems attuned to a contemporary world shaped by accelerated structural shifts.
Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman proposed the concept liquid modernity to describe the increasingly fluid and precarious condition of modern society in the decades immediately preceding the present moment, a time when existing societal institutions, norms, and relationships began to undergo a profound dislocation.
Shaped by these foundational shifts, the three artists turn away from predetermined formal vocabularies, devising instead adaptable structures and exploratory methods that register the velocity, unpredictability, and fragmentation of contemporary experience. Working through the ostensibly traditional medium of painting, they reinterpret sensation, materiality, memory, and image-making that constitute today’s visual field while probing the unstable ontology confronted by the individual subject.





Beginning in 2009 as a curatorial advisory in Seoul, BB&M has played a formative role in elevating some of the most acclaimed contemporary Korean artists onto the international stage. Now an independent gallery, BB&M is led by James B. Lee (Founding Principal) and Si Young Hur (Principal), whose extensive experience as director and partner in Seoul’s leading galleries includes exhibitions of such artists as Thomas Struth, Olafur Eliasson, and Liam Gillick.

A respected voice in contemporary art discourse.
Focusing on ambitious storytelling and insightful art-world commentary. Ocula Magazine publishes in-depth interviews, critical essays and timely analysis on the artists, exhibitions and ideas driving the global art world.
Learn more about Ocula Magazine
Showcasing the best of the art world.
Ocula partners with galleries from around the world to highlight their artists, artworks and exhibitions. Gallery membership is by application and invitation, with each member vetted by an independent panel.
Learn more about Ocula Membership
Specialises in the sale of major artworks.
Led by a team with deep ties to the world’s leading auction houses, galleries and collectors. Ocula’s advisory team offers bespoke services to high-net-worth clients from around the world who are looking to acquire the best of contemporary and modern art.
Learn more about our team and services