Exhibition brings together works by artists from the 8th Sao Paulo Biennial and Kim Byung-ki, who served as commissioner and jury member
Most things do not happen in just a day — they need enough time to mature or ripen. The same can be said of the Korean art scene. The seeds for what is now a vital part of Asia's art scenes were planted decades ago.
Not many know that Korean artist Kim Byung-ki was one of the first Korean artists to reach the global art stage. Kim was a jury member for the 8th Sao Paulo Biennial in 1965, a leading art biennial at the time, which was founded in 1951.
Among 70 commissioners, 15 were selected to be jury members at the biennial, and as a commissioner, Kim was in charge of the exhibition of Korean art.
Kim’s works and legacy are highlighted at “Kim Byungki and Bienal De Sao Paulo,” presented by Gana Art, a gallery in Pyeongchang-dong, and the Gana Foundation for Arts and Culture. The exhibition is curated by Yun Bum-mo, former director of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), who led the artist’s homecoming exhibition in 1986 at the gallery.
Kim left for New York in 1965 and returned to Korea in 2014, coinciding with a retrospective exhibition of his works held at MMCA. He died in 2022 at the age of 106.
The exhibition is divided into two parts: one section showcases Kim’s artistic practices through 10 selected paintings. The other focuses on the 1965 biennial with works by seven participating Korean artists, who Kim selected as commissioner: Lee Ung-no, Kim Chong-yung, Kwon Ok-yon, Lee Se-duk, Chung Chang-sup, Kim Tschang-yeul and Park Seo-bo.
“I became the commissioner of Korean art as chair of the board for the Korean Art Association. I selected artists from a generation younger than mine, Park Seo-bo, Kim Tschang-yeul and Chung Chang-sup, as they are leading contemporary Korean art,” Kim once said about the exhibition at the biennial, according to the gallery.
“But I also included Kwon Ok-yon and Lee Se-duk from the older generation to balance the line-up of the artists. Sculptor Kim Chong-yung and Lee Ung-no, whose works are based in Korean traditional painting, were also added to the exhibition,” he added.
Also on view at the Gana Art exhibition, are three paintings by Korean abstract master Kim Whan-ki from his “Echo” series, as they were shown at the biennial as part of the special exhibition.
“Kim Byungki and Bienal De Sao Paulo,” runs through April 20.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
