After many months of speculation, and then many months of anticipation, the inaugural edition of Frieze Seoul opens Friday at the Coex Convention and Exhibition Center in the Gangnam district, adjacent to the Korea International Art Fair. Hundreds of exhibitors from all over the world will be present. In many other countries, galleries are still closed for the summer break, but not here. The entire South Korean capital has been opening large exhibitions in recent days, hoping to attract visitors who are in town for the fairs and perhaps in the mood to buy. Below, five exhibition options to see among the many dozens on offer.
Chung Chang-Sup at PKM
This exhibition of later works by Dansaekhwa (“monochrome painting”) legend Chung Chang-Sup, who died aged 84 in 2011, opens with a masterstroke: a handful of off-white paintings from his final series, “Meditation,” glowing in the dim light. Its edges are carefully lined with tak — craggy mulberry bark fiber, which Chung mixed with water — and its centers are immaculately flat, empty but not quite empty. They amount to tender invitations to look closely and then look again. In other rooms, smoky color awaits, and stark black pieces seem to contain unfathomable depths, capable of absorbing light and thought.On view until October 15 at PKM gallery , 40 Samcheong-ro 7-gil, Jongno-gu.
Taeyoon Kim in Whistle
Step into Taeyoon Kim's elegant solo show at the compact Whistle gallery, and suddenly the frenetic energy of the Itaewon neighborhood disappears. The room is dark and the mood is serene. Short videos offer fleeting glimpses of everyday life: a puddle of water, a patch of street. Some small abstract drawings are based on afterimages of these works, informs an accompanying text. The speakers provide a seductive soundtrack that features birdsong, rustling leaves (maybe) and faint melodies. Call it improvised ambient art or soft structuralism: everything loosely connected. It's nice to experience the world this way.
On display until October 1st at 12 Whistle, Hoenamu-ro 13-gil, 3rd Floor, Yongsan-gu.
Haneyl Choi on P21 and Gallery2
Haneyl Choi, an adventurous sculptor of the human form who turned 30 last year, sees imposing nude men 3D printed, an irregular polystyrene board almost mind-melting abstraction of David Smith and others that evidence an artist who feels very free and would like the visitor to feel very free as well.
On view until October 1st in P21, 74 Hoenamu-ro, Yongsan-gu and gallery2, 204 Pyeongchang-gil Jongno-gu.
'Magnetic Fields' at BB&M
The four undulating, swirling abstractions that Lee Bul forged from acrylic paint and mother-of-pearl make this exhibition a must-visit. But more pleasures abound in this sharp display of five artists from BB&M's multigenerational roster. Jin Han Lee has fiery paintings that suggest a natural world altered by hallucinogens, Bae Young-whan riff's taut (aesthetically and conceptually) silver canvases in David Bowie's "Space Oddity," and Jeongsu Woo's sunny paintings with syncopated patterns , are palate cleansers – like sweet ice cream, but with nuances – in this multi-course feast.
On view until October 8 at BB&M, 10 Seongbuk-ro 23-gil, Seongbuk-gu.
Eugene Jung at Museumhead
It's unclear what happened, but all hell broke loose, and its aftermath includes this ultra-confident show by Eugene Jung, who was born in 1985. Sandbags form a curved wall, crowd-control barricades are shunted to the side, and sculptures that resemble rusted sheet metal look like makeshift post-disaster architecture, now decaying. The pool of water in front of this trusty nonprofit space contains fractured pieces of what could be an airplane fuselage or an exploded modernist sculpture (from Styrofoam and other materials). Jung depicts a futuristic dystopia that feels uncomfortably like the present. On view until September 7 in Museumhead , 84-3, Gyedong-gil, Jongno-gu.
