Kukje Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the 8th edition of Art Busan at BEXCO from May 31 to June 2, 2019. Art Busan was launched in 2012 with the goal of transforming Busan into a cultural and artistic hub and since then it has gained renown for its acclaimed programming. This year Art Busan will host 164 galleries from 17 countries including leading European and Asian galleries, making this the largest fair in Korea to date. At its booth, Kukje Gallery will exhibit a diverse group of modern and contemporary artists working both domestically and abroad.
A highlight of this year’s booth is Conjunction 18-19 (2018), a recently completed painting by the Dansaekhwa master Ha Chong-Hyun. Part of his ongoing Conjunction series, Ha’s work is best known for using rough hemp cloths as a ground (originally these were made of burlap sacks that carried USAID rations following the Korean War) and the artist’s innovative method of applying thick oil paint to the back of the fabric and pushing it through the weave to the front, a process known as bae-ap-bub. To coincide with the fair, Kukje Gallery Busan is pleased to announce the artist’s first solo show to be held in Busan titled Ha Chong-Hyun from May 29 through July 28. Comprised of over ten recent works, the exhibition will include large Conjunction paintings made with a new palette; these colors, introduced for the first time in Korea, include red, blue, and vermillion (a combination of red and orange known as dahongsaek).
The booth will also showcase works by a roster of leading international artists including the Swiss-born, New York-based contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone who will exhibit his painting titled einundzwanzigstermärzzweitausendundsechzehn (2016). The work comes from a series of “cloud” paintings that are painted on a cloud-shaped canvas using a sponge to achieve an atmospheric effect. The title emphasizes the concept of temporality with the date of production in German, written without any spaces in between the words. This emphasis on the passage of time and the beauty and vulnerability of nature is characteristic of Rondinone’s practice; the artist has stated, “Like a diarist, I record the living universe.” Rondinone is currently the subject of his second solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery Seoul titled earthing (on view through June 30), a major exhibition installed across two spaces that includes four distinct bodies of work. Each of these distinctive sculptures shares the artist’s sensitive approach to materials and his commitment to exploring the role of nature in shaping the human experience.
Also on view will be Highway Painting, No. 14 (2019) by the Berlin-based artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset. A new work that was first shown in the artists’ solo exhibition with Kukje Gallery Seoul in March, this sculptural painting uses rectangular pieces of asphalt as a ground and paint that is normally used for painting road markings. Formally reminiscent of Minimalist geometric abstractions, the signs on the asphalt painting refers to a shared urban language that is subverted and turned into signifiers that point to both the familiar and the subconscious, blurring the division between the public and private.
In addition, the booth will include Collier Cobalt et Alessandrita (2019) by the French artist Jean-Michel Othoniel. The artist was first exposed to artisanal glass manufacturing in Italy in the early 1990s and has been actively creating innovative beaded glass sculptures since the late 1990s. Othoniel recently unveiled ALFA at the National Museum of Qatar, a new institution designed by the French architect Jean Nouvel which officially opened its doors this March after more than a decade of construction. This large-scale installation is by far the biggest of the many monumental projects the artist has designed.
Kukje Gallery is also pleased to present additional works by both Korean and international modern and contemporary masters, including Yoo Youngkuk, Park Seo-Bo, Lee Ufan, Kim Yong-Ik, Koo Bohnchang, Gimhongsok, Lee Kwang-Ho, Roni Horn, Anish Kapoor, and Julian Opie.
