Kwak Duck-Jun, Carter and Kwak, 1977, C-print, 150 × 105 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Gallery Hyundai commemorates its 55th anniversary with the major exhibition 55 YEARS: A Legacy of Modern & Contemporary Korean Art, on view in two parts from April 8 to May 15, 2025, at its two venues in Samcheong-ro, Seoul. Spanning generations of pivotal Korean artists, the exhibition is both a historical reflection and a forward-looking celebration of the gallery's legacy as a foundational institution in Korean modern and contemporary art.
Established in 1970 as Hyundai Hwarang in Insadong, Gallery Hyundai has played a vital role in nurturing full-time artists, expanding Korean art's global visibility, and fostering dialogue between creators and collectors. Over the past five decades, the gallery has served as a critical platform for artists across disciplines, supporting the evolution of uniquely Korean visual languages while facilitating the international recognition of its artists.
Park Hyunki, Pass through the City, Work B, 1981, archival pigment print, 31 × 40 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Part I of the exhibition, held at Hyundai Hwarang (8 Samcheong-ro), features seminal works by artists who have shaped the public imagination and art history alike, such as Park Soo-Keun, Lee Jung Seob, Chun Kyungja, Kim Whanki, and Chang Ucchin. The exhibition also includes figurative painters influenced by naturalism, who devoted their careers to articulating a Korean artistic identity amid turbulent historical change. In the 1970s, when traditional Oriental painting dominated the art world, Gallery Hyundai's founder Park Myung Ja made a bold effort to elevate Western painting and contemporary art through curated exhibitions and the launch of Hwarangji, the first art magazine published by a commercial gallery in Korea.
Part II, presented at Gallery Hyundai (14 Samcheong-ro), spotlights experimental and diaspora artists central to the gallery’s recent curatorial projects, especially the ongoing “Reflections on Korean Experimental Art” led by HyungTeh Do, the second-generation director. This segment brings together influential figures such as Quac Insik, Nam June Paik, Lee Seung-taek, and Lee Kang So, alongside diaspora artists like Kwak Duck-Jun and Tchah Sup Kim, whose practices shaped and were shaped by global currents.
Seung-taek Lee, Untitled series, 2010s, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Many of the featured experimental artists played a central role in the traveling exhibition Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles between 2023 and 2024. Their works reflect both a deep engagement with avant-garde strategies and a shared pursuit of radically individualistic visual vocabularies.
By staging this two-part exhibition, Gallery Hyundai reflects on its history while reaffirming its role as a catalyst for innovation. It presents an intergenerational and cross-disciplinary spectrum of artists who collectively tell the story of Korean modern and contemporary art—one that is local in its origins yet global in resonance. This anniversary exhibition also underscores the gallery's long-standing commitment to bridging eras, aesthetics, and geographies, offering a rare convergence of the canonical and the experimental in Korean art history.
Choong Sup Lim, Catalyzer - 13, 2000, Found object, U.V.L.S gel on shaped canvas, 93 × 73 × 7 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Sayart / Maria Kim, sayart2022@gmail.com
Kwak Duck-Jun, Carter and Kwak, 1977, C-print, 150 × 105 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Gallery Hyundai commemorates its 55th anniversary with the major exhibition 55 YEARS: A Legacy of Modern & Contemporary Korean Art, on view in two parts from April 8 to May 15, 2025, at its two venues in Samcheong-ro, Seoul. Spanning generations of pivotal Korean artists, the exhibition is both a historical reflection and a forward-looking celebration of the gallery's legacy as a foundational institution in Korean modern and contemporary art.
Established in 1970 as Hyundai Hwarang in Insadong, Gallery Hyundai has played a vital role in nurturing full-time artists, expanding Korean art's global visibility, and fostering dialogue between creators and collectors. Over the past five decades, the gallery has served as a critical platform for artists across disciplines, supporting the evolution of uniquely Korean visual languages while facilitating the international recognition of its artists.
Park Hyunki, Pass through the City, Work B, 1981, archival pigment print, 31 × 40 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Part I of the exhibition, held at Hyundai Hwarang (8 Samcheong-ro), features seminal works by artists who have shaped the public imagination and art history alike, such as Park Soo-Keun, Lee Jung Seob, Chun Kyungja, Kim Whanki, and Chang Ucchin. The exhibition also includes figurative painters influenced by naturalism, who devoted their careers to articulating a Korean artistic identity amid turbulent historical change. In the 1970s, when traditional Oriental painting dominated the art world, Gallery Hyundai's founder Park Myung Ja made a bold effort to elevate Western painting and contemporary art through curated exhibitions and the launch of Hwarangji, the first art magazine published by a commercial gallery in Korea.
Part II, presented at Gallery Hyundai (14 Samcheong-ro), spotlights experimental and diaspora artists central to the gallery’s recent curatorial projects, especially the ongoing “Reflections on Korean Experimental Art” led by HyungTeh Do, the second-generation director. This segment brings together influential figures such as Quac Insik, Nam June Paik, Lee Seung-taek, and Lee Kang So, alongside diaspora artists like Kwak Duck-Jun and Tchah Sup Kim, whose practices shaped and were shaped by global currents.
Seung-taek Lee, Untitled series, 2010s, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
Many of the featured experimental artists played a central role in the traveling exhibition Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, organized by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles between 2023 and 2024. Their works reflect both a deep engagement with avant-garde strategies and a shared pursuit of radically individualistic visual vocabularies.
By staging this two-part exhibition, Gallery Hyundai reflects on its history while reaffirming its role as a catalyst for innovation. It presents an intergenerational and cross-disciplinary spectrum of artists who collectively tell the story of Korean modern and contemporary art—one that is local in its origins yet global in resonance. This anniversary exhibition also underscores the gallery's long-standing commitment to bridging eras, aesthetics, and geographies, offering a rare convergence of the canonical and the experimental in Korean art history.
Choong Sup Lim, Catalyzer - 13, 2000, Found object, U.V.L.S gel on shaped canvas, 93 × 73 × 7 cm, Courtesy of Gallery Hyundai
