[Gallery Talk (10)] Kukje to open new art center in 2013
This is the fifth in a 10-part series on prominent art galleries in Korea. – Ed
Kukje Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, central Seoul, really lives up to its name “Kukje,” which means international.
It is one of the galleries in Korea that is most often seen at international art fairs. This year alone it participated in The Armory Show in March, Hong Kong International Art Fair in May and is scheduled to participate in Art Basel later this month.
The gallery is also famous for its numerous exhibitions on high-profile international artists such as Alexander Calder, Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Damien Hirst.
“Ever since the Helen Frankenthaler exhibition, which was one of the first exhibitions by the Kukje Gallery featuring a prominent foreign artist, it has been on everyone’s tongue that Kukje holds some exhibitions. We naturally gained credibility,” said Lee Hyun-sook, founder and director of Kukje Gallery.
For her outstanding business acumen, Lee is often dubbed a heroine of Korean art business. For shows on late U.S. artist Jean Mitchel Basquiat or Joan Mitchell, for which the insurance prices alone cost more than several tens of millions of dollars, Lee did not have to pay a single penny on guarantee fees but just had to sign the papers.
Kukje Gallery was introduced as one of Asia’s most well-known galleries by the New York Times in 2005, and Lee was elected as the president of the Korean Art Galleries Association in 2006.
Lee did not study art or business, however. She was more of an ordinary housewife who had a hobby of collecting antique art, ceramics and oriental paintings -- until she opened the gallery in 1982.
It was only when she started to visit the United States frequently, to visit her children who were studying there, that she awakened to Western contemporary art.
“I realized how behind Korean contemporary art was. Minimalist artists such as Calder were in the spotlight in the world but Impressionists’ works were still the most popular in Korea,” said Lee.
“I started the gallery because I wanted to sell my collections in order to buy new ones. I decided to focus on Western art because it is hard to pass on the authenticity of Oriental artworks.”
Her daughter, Tina Kim, is following in Lee’s footsteps.
Kim opened Tina Kim Gallery in New York in 2002, which Lee proudly said is gaining quite an acclaim as an Asian gallery there.
“Many gallery owners in foreign countries do not have anyone to pass down their galleries to while there are many second-generation gallerists in Korea. I’m thinking, if these children take over most galleries in Korea, Korean art could conquer the international art market,” said Lee.
To conquer the world, or first, to revive the Korean art market, it is important to commercialize Korean contemporary artists, said Lee.
“The best would be establishing a systematic genealogy of Korean Monochrome artists such as Lee U-fan, because it is the kind that is rare in other countries. The art market can only be revived when there are things to sell. The government should provide more support for such Korean artists to make sales overseas,” said Lee.
Lee plans on establishing a non-profit art center behind the Kukje Gallery building by 2013. The site is prepared and will soon go under construction.
“It will be a total cultural complex where visitors can enjoy films about art, contemporary music and participate in seminars. The center will be designed by Florian Idenburg, the MoMA award winning architect and will have high ceilings so that tall sculptures can be placed there,” said Lee.
Kukje Gallery is currently holding a two-man exhibition featuring French artists Jean-Michel Othoniel and Xavier Veilhan which runs through June 26.
For more information on the exhibition or on Kukje Gallery, call (02) 735-8449 or visit www.kukjegallery.com.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
Kukje Gallery in Sogyeok-dong, central Seoul, really lives up to its name “Kukje,” which means international.
It is one of the galleries in Korea that is most often seen at international art fairs. This year alone it participated in The Armory Show in March, Hong Kong International Art Fair in May and is scheduled to participate in Art Basel later this month.
The gallery is also famous for its numerous exhibitions on high-profile international artists such as Alexander Calder, Anish Kapoor, Julian Opie and Damien Hirst.
“Ever since the Helen Frankenthaler exhibition, which was one of the first exhibitions by the Kukje Gallery featuring a prominent foreign artist, it has been on everyone’s tongue that Kukje holds some exhibitions. We naturally gained credibility,” said Lee Hyun-sook, founder and director of Kukje Gallery.
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| Kukje Gallery founder and director Lee Hyun-sook Kim Myung-sub/ The Korea Herald |
Kukje Gallery was introduced as one of Asia’s most well-known galleries by the New York Times in 2005, and Lee was elected as the president of the Korean Art Galleries Association in 2006.
Lee did not study art or business, however. She was more of an ordinary housewife who had a hobby of collecting antique art, ceramics and oriental paintings -- until she opened the gallery in 1982.
It was only when she started to visit the United States frequently, to visit her children who were studying there, that she awakened to Western contemporary art.
“I realized how behind Korean contemporary art was. Minimalist artists such as Calder were in the spotlight in the world but Impressionists’ works were still the most popular in Korea,” said Lee.
“I started the gallery because I wanted to sell my collections in order to buy new ones. I decided to focus on Western art because it is hard to pass on the authenticity of Oriental artworks.”
Her daughter, Tina Kim, is following in Lee’s footsteps.
Kim opened Tina Kim Gallery in New York in 2002, which Lee proudly said is gaining quite an acclaim as an Asian gallery there.
“Many gallery owners in foreign countries do not have anyone to pass down their galleries to while there are many second-generation gallerists in Korea. I’m thinking, if these children take over most galleries in Korea, Korean art could conquer the international art market,” said Lee.
To conquer the world, or first, to revive the Korean art market, it is important to commercialize Korean contemporary artists, said Lee.
“The best would be establishing a systematic genealogy of Korean Monochrome artists such as Lee U-fan, because it is the kind that is rare in other countries. The art market can only be revived when there are things to sell. The government should provide more support for such Korean artists to make sales overseas,” said Lee.
Lee plans on establishing a non-profit art center behind the Kukje Gallery building by 2013. The site is prepared and will soon go under construction.
“It will be a total cultural complex where visitors can enjoy films about art, contemporary music and participate in seminars. The center will be designed by Florian Idenburg, the MoMA award winning architect and will have high ceilings so that tall sculptures can be placed there,” said Lee.
Kukje Gallery is currently holding a two-man exhibition featuring French artists Jean-Michel Othoniel and Xavier Veilhan which runs through June 26.
For more information on the exhibition or on Kukje Gallery, call (02) 735-8449 or visit www.kukjegallery.com.
By Park Min-young (claire@heraldm.com)
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