ART BUSAN 2025

Kukje Gallery will introduce a diverse selection of works by both Korean and international modern and contemporary artists. This includes Korean first-generation woman sculptor Kim Yun Shin’s Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One 2015-18 (2015). As implied by the title, ‘two becoming one through interaction, then splitting again to become two different ones’ is a philosophy that underscores the artist’s life as well as her practice, the work itself exploring the sculptural process of adding one’s spirit to the work. Min Joung-Ki, an artist who blurs the dichotomous boundaries of conventional Western and Eastern landscape paintings with a focus on mountains and the traces of human life and history, presents Beotgogae Hill (2024). Min captures the spatio-temporal qualities of our lives within rural spaces, transformed into painting through his distinctive methods. Koo Bohnchang, a pioneer of Korean contemporary photography who has been reinterpreting Korean aesthetics through a modern lens, presents Vessel (OSK 02 BW) (2005). ‘Vessel’ is his best-known series, representing his search for baekja (white porcelain masterworks from the Joseon dynasty) around the world. Koo expresses his delicate touch and sensibility by approaching them like portraits and recording the essence of Korean aesthetics such as that of emptying, memories and the associated pain, and the traces of history. Also on view is Kyungah Ham’s Phantom and a Map / “Did you come by photograph or train?” 2408S03 (2024). Appearing as a digital screen or perhaps even a part of a machine, this work presents curving lines of vivid shades traversing across a large matrix-like screen, creating an illusion of the two opposing realms of virtual and physical coexisting. On the other hand, Yeondoo Jung, who works across diverse mediums of video, photography, sculpture, and performance, traversing and conjoining heterogeneous subjects, presents Afternoon Nap (2004). This work is a part of the ‘Wonderland’ series (2004) which realizes children’s drawings into photographs, representing the artist’s continued practice of attempting to relate to and put oneself in the shoes of the subject themselves. In addition, the booth will highlight Mountain #24-10 (2023–2024) by Suki Seokyeong Kang, acclaimed for her reinterpretation of elements of Korean tradition into modern sociocultural contexts. Metal chains hanging down from a sculpture resembling the curvature of mountains evoke stones covered with rain or dense forests, while the wispy silk resembles the foggy air of a mountain. Following the recent passing of the artist, the gallery hopes to commemorate her artistic legacy with those who were deeply moved by her singular vision.

Kukje Gallery will also feature major international artists from its roster. Among the works presented is Anish Kapoor’s Cobalt Blue and Oriental Blue mix to clear (2024) from his iconic series of concave mirrors, reflecting its vicinity while also distorting objects situated afar due to its concave curvature. Kapoor places great emphasis on such two-sided phenomena and the potential chaos they can cause, continuing to experiment with materiality. Also situated in the booth is a work from Ugo Rondinone’s rainbow painting series, siebzehnterseptemberzweitausendundvierundzwanzig (2024). The artist is currently participating in terrone at the Galleria Arte Moderna (GAM), his first institutional solo exhibition in Milan. The artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset’s work Couple, Fig. 4 (2019) is also to be installed. The Berlin-based duo works across various genres including sculpture, performance, design, architecture, and theater, successfully weaving a biting wit with poignant and often philosophical observations on society.

Meanwhile, coinciding with the duration of ART BUSAN 2025, Kukje Gallery Busan presents Yeondoo Jung’s solo exhibition The Inevitable, Inacceptable through 20 July. The exhibition reveals an intersection of blues music and images of fermentation, unexpectedly juxtaposing the vibrancy of life against the wonders of nature, as well as humor against yearning through his unique tone. Scheduled to be held through 11 May at Kukje Gallery’s Seoul post is the pioneering Korean modernist Ha Chong-Hyun’s solo exhibition Ha Chong-Hyun, at the K1 and Hanok spaces. Through a selection of approximately 30 works created between 2009 and the present, the exhibition includes various iterations of his renowned monochromatic ‘Conjunction’ series as well as more recent works characterized by colorful adaptations, vibrant gestures, and naturalism. It also features major works from his ‘Post-Conjunction’ series, initiated in 2009, bringing together two continuously evolving and expanding pillars of Ha’s storied artistic practice. In the same exhibition period, the K2 and K3 spaces are presenting Jae-Eun Choi’s solo exhibition Nature Rules, intending to recover nature’s sovereignty and provide the foundation for the ecological restoration of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). The exhibition presents works that explore themes revolving around the origin of life, temporality, birth and extinction, as well as the complex dynamic between nature and humanity.