FRIEZE LONDON 2025

This year’s edition of Frieze London showcases 168 galleries from 46 countries. In addition to its main ‘Galleries’ section, the fair also presents ‘Artist-to-Artist,’ in which artists nominate other artists for solo booths; ‘Focus,’ spotlighting emerging galleries established within the last 12 years; and ‘Editions,’ dedicated to limited-edition works by leading international artists. Together, these programs offer a survey of the contemporary art landscape of the here and now.

At Frieze London 2025, Kukje Gallery’s booth will feature a wide-ranging selection of works across painting, sculpture, and diverse media by both Korean and international artists. Dansaekhwa master Park Seo-Bo’s Écriture No. 221221 (2022), a work from his color Écriture series introduced in the 2000s, demonstrates his painterly innovations inspired by nature. Ha Chong-Hyun’s Post-Conjunction 11-527 (2011) embodies a variation of Ha’s signature bae-ap-bub, created by squeezing oil paint between wooden slats wrapped in hanji (traditional Korean paper) or fabric and then pressing them together so that the paint seeps through the surface. The process imbues the canvas with rhythm and dynamism, while further expanding the scope of Dansaekhwa. Kwon Young-Woo’s Untitled (c. 1980s) maximises the materiality of Korean paper through repeated actions of cutting, tearing, and pasting. In doing so, Kwon offers an alternative to the dichotomous thinking of Western culture, whether between paint and canvas or subject and object. Lee Seung Jio, a pioneer of Korean geometric abstraction, presents Nucleus (1976–1977), a work centered on his signature ‘pipe’ motif. Through repeated processes of undercoating, painting, and sanding that emphasize metallic qualities, Lee redefines the history of post-painterly abstraction. First-generation woman sculptor Kim Yun Shin’s wooden sculpture Add Two Add One, Divide Two Divide One 2015-18 (2015) embodies her unique artistic philosophy of perceiving nature not as an object of contemplation, but as a subject that ‘add[s to become] one’ with the artist, conveying a sense of primal energy and vitality.

Koo Bohnchang, a pioneer of Korean contemporary photography who has been reinterpreting Korean aesthetics through a modern lens, presents Vessel (JUN 07) (2010). Koo expresses his delicate touch and sensibility by capturing baekja (white porcelain masterworks from the Joseon dynasty) like portraits and recording the essence of Korean aesthetics. Kibong Rhee’s new work About a page passed away B (2025) explores the dynamics and flow of humans, objects, and the world by depicting a dreamlike waterside landscape as a space of infinite possibility where the complexities of our surroundings unfold. Park Chan-kyong’s painting Words (What I Wish to Say) (2025), inscribed with the Chinese character ‘言’ (meaning word or speech) across the surface of a three-tiered pagoda, explores Korea’s dual attitudes toward religion and folk belief, juxtaposing the resemblance between the character and the pagoda, and metaphorically conveying the urgency of unspoken prayers. Lee Kwang-Ho’s Untitled 4763 (2025) captures New Zealand’s Kepler Track wetlands with his signature painterly sensibility. Haegue Yang’s ‘Series of Vulnerable Arrangements – A Pair of Halves’ (2009) incorporates quotidian objects such as drying racks and Venetian blinds to reflect on domesticity and intimacy. Yang is currently featured in solo exhibitions at the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (Haegue Yang: Quasi-Heartland) and the Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich (Haegue Yang: Leap Year). Suki Seokyeong Kang’s GRANDMOTHER TOWER #23-01 (2022–2023) is a bent-over figure, interwoven with colorful threads around circular steel frames, paying homage to the elegance and resilience of her grandmother.

Kukje Gallery’s booth will also feature major works by internationally acclaimed artists. Jenny Holzer’s behalf (2025) from her Redaction Paintings series transforms declassified government documents—released under the Freedom of Information Act—into monumental abstractions. Julian Opie’s Busan 1. (2024) captures images of Kukje Gallery Participates in Frieze London 20252 / 17 passersby in Haeundae and Centum City, transporting the dynamism and vibrancy of Busan to London. The Danish artist collective SUPERFLEX presents Four Flies Staring at Each Other (On a Glass of Water) (2025), in which four houseflies are positioned around a glass of water. This impossibly staged encounter critiques anthropocentric thinking with humor, highlighting how human behaviors inevitably reflect onto other living beings.