Kukje Gallery opens new exhibitions focusing on the human body

With art fairs Frieze and Kiaf just around the corner, museums and galleries are gearing up to turn Seoul into an art festival for the upcoming fall season.

Anish Kapoor's studio [KUKJE GALLERY]

With art fairs Frieze and Kiaf just around the corner, museums and galleries are gearing up to turn Seoul into an art festival for the upcoming fall season.

Kukje Gallery, one of the most prestigious galleries in Korea, recently kicked off two new exhibitions: one on the works of the late Choi Wook-kyung (1940-1985) at its Busan branch and another on 69-year-old Anish Kapoor in its Seoul branch.

Although each artist's works deal with entirely different genres, one thing both exhibits have in common is that they show the artists’ fascination, through their own interpretation, on life through imagery of the human body.

Both exhibits are free and end Oct. 22.

″Untitled″ (c. 1960s) by Choi Wook-kyung [KUKJE GALLERY]

'A Stranger to Strangers' Choi, regarded as a pioneering figure in the Korean abstract art scene, is best known for depicting her life abroad in the United States during the ‘60s and ‘70s, which usually centered on the confusion and chaos she faced as a foreigner. She used a plethora of techniques, including daring colors and lively brushstrokes.

Choi is holding her first Busan solo exhibition, "A Stranger to Strangers," at the gallery, which is inside the F1963 cultural complex in Suyeong District. It is Kukje’s fourth time showing her works.

Her last notable show was at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Gwacheon branch in Gyeonggi back in 2021, which was filled with large, colorful works.

″Untitled (AM I AMERICAN)″ (c. 1960s) by Choi Wook-kyung [KUKJE GALLERY]

The Kukje exhibit, however, lacks the various hues and dramatic scale and instead focuses on smaller, black-and-white ink drawings and prints, which shed light on how Choi experimented with a myriad of mediums. The exhibition title is from her book of poems published in 1972.

Some portray disordered sketches of the human body, which in turn elicit feelings of vividness and vigor. This alludes to the sense of freedom Choi longed for her entire life.

Choi always “felt like an outsider,” in both her homeland of Korea and even overseas in America. As if being a foreigner in the United States wasn’t enough to make her feel like a minority, even after returning to Korea, male dansaekhwa (Korean monochrome paintings) painters seemed to steal the spotlight away from the art Choi pursued as a female abstractionist.

The Busan branch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day except Mondays.

″In between II″ (2021) by Anish Kapoor [KUKJE GALLERY]

'Anish Kapoor' The titular exhibition is a comprehensive overview of the British-Indian sculptor’s artistic world, complete with sculptures, paintings and drawings.

It’s crucial, in order to understand Kapoor's works, that people view them from all different sides and examine the textures on the surface as they “transcend” the limits of material.

For instance, in his black installation works, what looks completely flat from the front is actually protruding in different shapes when seen from the side.

This is because of “the blackest” black pigment — Vantablack — which Kapoor uses and owns exclusive rights to. The substance, made from carbon nanotubes, creates a void-like black hole appearance since it virtually reflects no light.

″Ingest″ (2016) by Anish Kapoor [KUKJE GALLERY]

The artist has also expanded the definition and function of paintings by giving them more dimension by sculpting silicone onto the canvas. Silicone plays a huge role in Kapoor’s works, as it is used to represent the inner parts of the body: One reason being that the material is used in plastic surgery. Some largescale silicone installations on view at the gallery resemble enlarged body parts, and they are covered in gauze, likened to human skin.

By sculpting silicone and combining it with deep red and black hues to form images like grotesque blood clots or organs, the works reflect the artist’s ongoing contemplation about the human mind.

The Seoul branch is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, except Sundays and national holidays, which end at 5 p.m.

BY SHIN MIN-HEE [shin.minhee@joongang.co.kr]