Art Basel Hong Kong, which has established itself as the most significant art fair in the Asia-Pacific region in collaboration with world-renowned galleries, is once again poised to be a platform for international prestige and active exchange, following the lifting of travel restrictions in Hong Kong late last year. This year, ONE AND J. Gallery, participating as a main section gallery, is set to showcase the profound and delicate works of 4 internationally acclaimed Korean artists that transcend the Asia-Pacific region.
Since 2005, ONE AND J. Gallery has been steadily working to introduce Korean art and creators to major overseas art scenes and to help Korean-based art creators enter the international stage. ONE AND J. Gallery, which will participate as the main section gallery in Art Basel Hong Kong 2024 to be held at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center from 28 to 30 March 2024, will feature artists who are continuing meaningful activities in the Korean contemporary art world. Introducing the four members: Suyoung Kim, Suh Yongsun, Sen Chung, and Yi Soonjoo. These artists are all based in Korea, and in the contemporary visual art scene overflowing with images, they look at the world from their own perspective and continue to actively create through their own unique methodologies. In particular, the dynamic liveliness felt in static images is a common feature of this Art Basel Hong Kong booth, and the artist hopes to convey the artist's own deep and delicate vitality to the visitors.
Suyoung Kim (b. 1971), who has been drawing architecture for a long time, has experimented with the boundary between figuration and abstraction and the relationship between objects and time by emphasising the geometric elements and flatness of buildings, and the physical properties of paint. The progress of the experiment can also be seen in the change in the title of the work. In the early works that used the building name and time as the title of the work, the focus was relatively more on the characteristics of the object and the points where the object intersected with the painting medium were introduced. Since then, she has focused more on visual composition by enlarging or reassembling the object through works with titles that emphasise composition such as 'both sides', 'two sides', and 'balance'. Afterwards, the works changed to a neutral series title, 'work no.' It was implied that interest had continued. The surface of the building, shown divided on the surface of the canvas, begins with an 'architectural moment' and reveals the abstractness inherent in our world. The surface of the building, with its indifferent and anonymous form that seems to be a copy of the scenery outside the window that is overly familiar to modern people, especially Koreans, is reminiscent of the 'already given' conditions of life since modern times.
Suyoung Kim received her B.F.A. degree from Painting, College of Fine Arts, Seoul National University and Meisterschüler, Akademie Brief degree from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany. She has held solo exhibitions at ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2018); Kumho Museum, Seoul (2007) and others. Participated in selected group exhibitions at Space Willing N Dealing, Seoul (2021); ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2020); Kumho Museum, Seoul (2019); ARKO Art Center, Seoul (2018) etc. Work by the artist is held in museum collections, including National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Art Bank, Korea; Seoul Museum of Art, Korea and others.
Suh Yongsun (b.1961) draws 'humans'. Shapes of all forms that he works are based on interest in people. Including self-portraits of himself, Suh paints historical paintings in a certain time, certain character of the past. Not only of these, he also captures unspecified people striving for everyday life that can be seen anywhere in the world, such as Seoul, New York, and Berlin. These diverse human images are expressed on the canvas with vivid, intense colour and strong brush strokes. Especially, red is prominently used because it is a colour that makes him crystal clear in a sensitive way and at the same time symbolises a kind of resistance. Suh uses contrasting colours to break the stereotypes we generally have and bring out the essential emotions deeply lie beneath us. The subject sometimes appears as a historical figure, sometimes as an unknown stranger passing through the city, and sometimes as the artist himself. Whatever the figures are, the very naked and raw form of human figures that Suh unfolds on the canvas makes us contemplate. This is also a trace of never-ending existential questions, 'What is human?'. Therefore, in Suh's works, 'humans' necessarily exist.
Born 1951 in Seoul, Suh Yongsun lives and works in Yangpyeong, Korea. He received his B.F.A (1979) and M.F.A (1982) in Painting from Seoul National University in Seoul. He served as a professor at Seoul National University of College of Fine Arts (1986-2008) and is currently a professor emeritus at Seoul National University (2016-present). Suh has held solo exhibitions at Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2023); Seoul Herstory House Yeodamjae, Seoul (2021); Art Center White Block, Gyeonggi (2019); Arko Art Center, Seoul (2016); Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul (2015); Hakgojae Gallery, Seoul (2015); DAAD, Bonn (2014), MMCA, Gwacheon (2009) and many more. He also took part in several group exhibitions at SeMA, Seoul, (2023), Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2022); Museum of Contemporary art Busan, Busan (2020); Asia Culture Center, Gwangju (2018); Daegu Art Museum, Daegu (2017); Busan Art Museum, Busan (2014); Taiwan National Museum of Fine Arts, Taichung, Taiwan (2012); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2011); MMCA, Gwacheon (2005) and others. Suh has received numerous awards from Chosun Ilbo Art Museum, Lee Jung Seop Art Award (2014); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Artist of the Year (2009) and many more. His works are in the permanent collections of MMCA, Korea; SeMA, Korea; Busan Museum of Modern art, Korea; Daegu Art Museum, Korea; Suwon Museum of Art, Korea; Seoul National University Museum, Korea; OCI Museum, Korea; Gyeongnam Art Museum, Wu-Guanzhong Museum annexed Gallery, Singapore and many more.
Sen Chung (b.1963) has been working on the essence of two-dimensional painting for a long time. His paintings are based on nostalgia and melancholic sensibility, and continue from figurative to semi-abstract and geometric abstraction. A few strands of colour and lines are filled freely enough to be considered a primitive break away from the frame of shapes and emphasises the intimacy in his work. Sen Chung paints his numerous emotions, thoughts, phenomena which he had faced while staring at the blank canvas during his meditative phase. Chung expects some kind of drama to happen beyond the canvas, while he composes emotional phenomena in the air that cannot take a definite form. Along with the empty spaces exposed as the texture of linen, on which the painting pervades, we are led to gaze at the geometric form, colour tone, and small brushstrokes following the artist's unique rhythm. In the end, it creates an emotional impact.
Sen Chung lives and works in Dusseldorf and Seoul. He received his B.F.A in Fine Arts from Hongik University in Korea. After he moved to Germany, he received the Meisterschüler, Akademiebrief from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf and his M.A degree in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art & Design. He has held solo exhibitions at Wooson Gallery (2021); OCI Museum of Art, Seoul (2020); Osthaus Museum, Hagen (2020) and others. Participated in numerous group exhibitions including those held at the ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2022); Manarat al Saadiyat, Abu Dhabi (2020); Kunst Palast, Dusseldorf (2019); Doosan Gallery, Seoul (2017); Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul (2016); Art Sonje Center, Seoul (2016); 7th Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool (2012) and many more. He has participated in the artist-in-residence program of ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program), IAAB, MacDowell Colony Residency and so on. His works are in the collections of the The Deutsche Bank Collection, Germany; National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Art Sonje Center, Korea; Foundation for Culture of Rhein Neckar, Germany and others.
Yi Soonjoo refuses to conform her life directions to social norms, and lives her life to the fullest, welcoming every moment with joy. Such an attitude in life is closely linked to her attitude as an artist and her methodology. As in our unpredictable life where we cannot foresee if we are headed forward, whether we are to stop where we are for a while, or if we should go back, Yi portrays her stories that are reactions from life in a fluid manner. Yi's specialty is to play with reality using her unique sense of humour by secretly hiding her own code in the non-standardised screen, or surprising us with unexpected images. This delightful surprise seems to 'poke' our fixated thoughts which are becoming less fluid in this modern society.
Yi Soonjoo received her B.F.A in Painting from Hongik University and studied painting/drawing at Städelschule, Frankfurt in Germany. Yi now lives and works both in Korea and Germany, and has operated Drawing Space Salgoo since 2014. Yi has held her solo exhibitions at ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2023); Obscura, Seoul (2019); Space ikki, Seoul (2018); Take Out Drawing Seongbuk-dong, Seoul (2010); Project Space Sarubia, Seoul (2004) and others. Participated in numerous group exhibitions and biennales including those held at the Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul (2015, 2004); Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Gyeonggi (2009); Arko Art Center, Seoul (2006); Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), Seoul (2005, 2004); Ausstellungshalle 1A, Frankfurt (2004); Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul (2003); Museum of Modern Art Bologna, Bologna (2001); Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju (2000); Utsunomiya Museum for Modern Art, Japan + Niigata Civic Center Gallery, Niigata (2000) and many more.
As Art Basel Hong Kong has established itself as one of the world's largest art fairs, it has emphasised the city's strengths as a stage for exchange across Asia and the Pacific, beyond being a festival only for European and American artists and collectors. This is in line with the agenda of ONE AND J. Gallery, which closely tracks the contemporary art scene in Korea and introduces and broadcasts Korean contemporary art to overseas markets and the domestic art scene. ONE AND J. Gallery hopes that art collectors and audiences from around the world will be able to track Korea's contemporary art scene through its booth at Art Basel Hong Kong in 2024. In addition, we hope to meet four artists who are currently prominent in the Korean art scene and see how each artist is developing their own world of work at the current stage of Korean culture and art.
28–30 March 2024
Vernissage
Wednesday 27 March, 4pm–8pm
Public Days
Thursday 28 March, 2pm–8pm
Friday 29 March, 2pm–8pm
Saturday 30 March, 1pm–7pm
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC)
1 Expo Dr, Wan Chai,
Hong Kong