Kukje Gallery is pleased to announce its participation in the second edition of ART SG, from January 18 through 21, 2024, at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Following its inauguration last year, ART SG is widely acknowledged as the most vibrant and largest international art fair in Singapore. This year, 110 galleries from 33 countries will participate in the event, welcoming collectors, art enthusiasts, and art professionals. The fair presents different sectors including Galleries, the fair’s main sector; Focus, dedicated to the galleries showcasing curated programs with an emphasis on the exploration of different mediums, especially digital art and new media, and emerging to mid-career artists; and Futures, devoted to young galleries established within the last ten years, presenting recent works by rising talents, specially created for ART SG. The event will enrich the art and cultural landscape of Singapore by featuring engaging programs including ambitious large-scale installations, insightful conversations, a thought-provoking film sector, and expansive city-wide activation in close collaboration with Singapore Art Week, the city’s annual celebration of the visual arts.

In the Galleries sector, Kukje Gallery will showcase a wide range of works by renowned Korean and international artists including Ha Chong-Hyun’s recent work titled Conjunction 23-19 (2023), which employs his unique technique of bae-ap-bub, a method of pushing paint from the back to the front of the hemp cloth. Ha, a pioneer of the Korean avant-garde and a central figure in Dansaekhwa painting, has gained acclaim at home and abroad following his successful large-scale solo exhibition that opened as an official collateral event of the 59th Venice Biennale, and his recent presentation of early works including his White Paper on Urban Planning series in Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s-70s at the Guggenheim Museum in New York—an exhibition that traveled from the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul. The selection also includes Gimhongsok’s Canine Construction - small (2013), a sculpture that resembles Jeff Koons' famous Balloon Dog, coyly questioning the market for and iconic role of pop art. Opening on February 1, Kukje Gallery will present a solo exhibition of the artist, titled Normal order aimed at failure, featuring sculptures, paintings, and installations that challenge binary concepts prevalent in contemporary society. The booth will also introduce Kyungah Ham’s iconic embroidered canvas What you see is the unseen / Chandeliers for Five Cities SK 02-02 (2018-2019). Depicting the image of a chandelier, the work was created in collaboration with North Korean artisans in a clandestine production process that alludes to the history of Korea’s division. The artist, who is well-known for her works that highlight the dynamics between the conspicuous and the inconspicuous elements that come into play in forming a single image, will present her solo exhibition at Kukje Gallery in September. Also on view will be Lee Kwang-Ho‘s Untitled 4819-64 (2023) from his series of landscape paintings that depict the Kepler Track wetlands, an indigenous ecology that includes a wide variety of trees, vines, and grass native to the South Island of New Zealand. The booth will also present a recent work by Haegue Yang, a contemporary artist who divides her time between Berlin and Seoul, titled Sonic Droplets – Opal (2023), consisting of opal bells that hang from the ceiling to the floor, dividing or filling the space like a curtain. Once activated, the sounds of the bells evoke the function they have been historically associated with, serving as a connection between the human and spiritual worlds in religious practices across different cultures. The artist is currently presenting Haegue Yang: Continuous Reenactments, her inaugural solo exhibition in Finland at the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM). Last year, Yang ranked 93rd on the world’s top 100 artist list known as the Kunstkompass, announced annually by the leading German business magazine Capital, and has recently joined last year’s ArtReview’s Power 100 roster, ranking 71 on the list of the most influential figures in the art world as announced by the British arts magazine. Suki Seokyeong Kang, whose recent solo exhibition at the Leeum Museum of Art, Suki Seokyeong Kang: Willow Drum Oriole, concluded successfully last year, will feature her Mountain — autumn #23-02 (2023). Recalling the Inwangsan landscape seen from her studio in the Seochon neighborhood, the work is both three-dimensional and lyrical, reinterpreting the mountain ridge with materials such as iron, thread, and chain. For her highly anticipated upcoming show March at Kukje Gallery, the artist will present new work that continues to expand her artistic vocabulary in diverse media.

Kukje Gallery will also feature major international artists from its roster. This includes a distinctive disc-shaped work Spanish and Pagan Gold satin (2020) by Indian-born British sculptor Anish Kapoor. Last year, Kapoor revealed his inaugural permanent installation in New York at the entrance of Jenga Tower (56 Leonard Street), designed by Herzog & de Meuron. Also on view will be another British contemporary artist Julian Opie’s Teresa 1. (2019) from his series which depicts figures in the act of “walking,” capturing the natural beauty of ordinary movement.

Meanwhile, Kukje Gallery is holding Lee Kwang-Ho’s solo exhibition BLOW-UP, through January 28, 2024, at its K1 space, introducing 65 recent paintings that employ the artist’s meticulous brushstrokes and keen depictions of nature.