Gallery hopping in Seoul
Hyperrealism with emotion at Johyun Gallery
Johyun Gallery in Seoul, located at The Shilla Hotel, showcases a solo exhibition of hyperrealism artist Kang Kang-hoon, whose works explore portraiture and cotton — visual metaphors of intergenerational connections.
The exhibition features portrait paintings of his daughter, documenting her change and growth. Cotton is another crucial motif in his work: an icon of his late mother and the transcendent existence inherent in nature's objects, a visual bridge between generations.
Kang's work invites audiences to confront their true selves through his works that capture not only external features, but embody the emotional sentiment of each subject. The exhibition runs through July 13.
Japanese artist Aruta Soup's first show in Seoul
Japanese artist Aruta Soup, known for his distinctive fusion of cartoon culture, British black humor and street aesthetics, meets Korean audiences for the first time in Seoul at Whitestone Gallery.
The exhibition 'Insomniac City' refers to the restless urban scape of Shinjuku — particularly Kabukicho, a district in Tokyo known for its nightlife and shadowy allure. The artist captures the essence of contemporary urban life and human complexity.
After spending his teenage years in London, the artist returned to Japan and started to reflect the violence of urban life and inner human anxiety in his work. The exhibition at Whitestone Gallery in Seoul runs until July 20.
Conversation resonates at Esther Schipper in Seoul
Esther Schipper in Seoul shows 'Conversation II,' an exhibition of Prabhavathi Meppayil and Yee Soo-kyung, as the second presentation of the gallery's "Conversation" series in Seoul.
The two artists, one from India and the other from South Korea, engage in a dialogue through the language of contemporary art rooted in tradition. The exhibition offers the opportunity to explore how an encounter between two artists from distinct cultural backgrounds can enrich the discourse of contemporary art.
Meppayil's works that feature geometric patterns recall minimalist abstract paintings, but once viewed up close, patterns are seen created by repeatedly stamping hand tools used in the metalwork onto the surface, or the metallic lines sparkling beneath the layers of white gesso as a result of the artist's performative process infused with the warmth of human touch.
Yee's work, created with broken and fragmented pieces connected one by one to form new structures, resonate in tandem. The exhibition runs through July 12.
yunapark@heraldcorp.com
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Korea Herald
3 hours ago
- Korea Herald
It's all about music
Great jazz playing in a hole in the wall, traditional folk songs in a beautiful hanok and music on request at an LP bar all make for great getaways Fru, a cozy jazz-playing izakaya in Jongno It's not always the fancy luxury bars that leave the deepest impression. Sometimes, it's the small, hidden spot you stumble on that offers just the right atmosphere and drinks. Fru, a Japanese izakaya about 300 meters from Exit No. 2 of Anguk Station on Subway Line No. 3 in Jongno-gu, Seoul, has just one four-person table and a bar with nine seats. Because the space is so small — yet very popular — it's strongly recommended to make a reservation at least an hour in advance. The menu is simple but well-curated, featuring Japanese dishes such as sashimi, ramen and rolled omelet that pair perfectly with the drinks. The food may not be extravagant, but it stays true to quality and flavor. Prices are also very reasonable. For drinks, Fru offers a range of sophisticated highballs, including cassis highball, Famous Grouse highball and Fireball cinnamon highball, as well as sweet potato shochu and Korean soju. What truly sets Fru apart, however, is its music. Most of the time, the izakaya plays jazz, but it occasionally spins hits from the 1990s and early 2000s. Guests can even request songs by jotting them down on a small piece of paper and handing it to the staff, though selections are at the bar's discretion. One thing to keep in mind: visits are limited to two hours, as there's a steady flow of customers throughout the night. Right across from the royal palace of Changdeokgung sits a modest hanok -- the Seoul Museum of Korean Folk Music. Inside, it's all about the music that once carried the rhythm of life in Korea: folk songs passed down for centuries, from field to field and village to village. These folk songs (minyo in Korean) were not just entertainment. The Korean people have always loved singing -- farmers sang to steady the pace of planting rice, fishermen to pass the time at sea, women to lighten the load of housework. There were songs for festivals and weddings, and songs to soothe grief at funerals. Minyo carries the joys and sorrows of life, as well as all the little moments in between, into our ceremonies, rituals and everyday routines. And each region shaped its own style, giving the folk tradition a colorful, varied soundscape. Here, history is something you can hear. Slip on a set of headphones and you can listen to the work songs of the Hwanghae region (now in North Korea), the playful marketplace chants of Gyeongsang provinces, or the soulful laments of the southern coast. The museum was established to preserve this oral heritage, much of which has faded with rapid industrialization. The hanok itself is part of the charm. Wander through its intimate galleries to discover themed exhibitions, audio stations and videos. On the first floor, curated listening sessions let you hear the voices of Korea's many landscapes under the eaves of traditional architecture. Open Tuesday to Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., the museum offers a rare chance to step out of modern Seoul and into a soundscape shaped over generations. One of the best ways to pull the plug on work is to have good food paired with perfect drinks, and music that flows from the speakers like it was made for the moment. Nestled in the streets of Garosu-gil -- a neighborhood in Seoul's Gangnam-gu known for its eclectic cafes and small fashion boutiques -- lies Muse On, a music bar with a great atmosphere, lots of LPs and good drinks and snacks. A 10-minute walk from Exit No. 8 of Sinsa Station on Subway Line No. 3 will take you straight there. Muse On takes music recommendations from visitors, allowing them to sit back and enjoy their selections. From mid-2000s pop like Bobby V.'s "Slow Down" to Ed Sheeran's "Photograph" and indie band Wave to Earth's "Peace Eyes," the playlist spans genres and moods. Drinks are priced between 12,000 won and 20,000 won. A lemon highball costs 12,000 won, while a Moscow Mule is priced at 15,000 won. Weekends tend to get crowded, so time your visit wisely. 32 Dosan-daero 15-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul jaaykim@ hwangdh@ junheee@
Korea Herald
18 hours ago
- Korea Herald
Resistance, poetry and bullets: Films for liberation day
Three films exploring resistance, sacrifice and the fight for freedom during Japan's colonial rule Come Aug. 15th in South Korea, national flags flutter from apartment balconies while ceremonies fill the airwaves. It's Gwangbokjeol — Liberation Day — marking Korea's freedom from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule in 1945. For a country that endured forced labor, cultural suppression and the horrors of wartime mobilization, the day brings out a distinct national pride. So what better way to mark the occasion than with Korean cinema's take on this dark yet defiant era? These three films, spanning from intimate poetry to pulpy espionage, offer windows into how ordinary people became extraordinary under the occupation. Director Lee Joon-ik ("The King and the Clown," "The Throne") strips away his usual period drama bombast for something more solemn and devastating. Shot in black and white, this biographical film follows poet Yun Dong-ju during his final years under Japanese rule, when writing in Korean itself became an act of rebellion. The film unfolds through flashbacks as Dong-ju (Kang Ha-neul) faces interrogation by Japanese authorities. We watch his evolution from an idealistic student to a young man caught between artistic expression and political reality. His cousin Song Mong-gyu (Park Jung-min), a fiery revolutionary, pulls him toward active resistance, while Dong-ju struggles with whether poetry alone can serve his country. This isn't your typical resistance drama — it trades heroics for restraint. Lee and screenwriter Shin Yeon-shick let the weight of the era accumulate through telling details: the moment Korean becomes a forbidden language, the pressure to adopt Japanese names, the way even studying literature requires moral compromise. Kang Ha-neul, better known for lighter commercial fare, delivers a remarkably nuanced performance, especially as Dong-ju's poems are recited aloud against the backdrop of the brutal reality that inspired them. Neither pure heroism nor violent resistance offers clear-cut answers here. When Dong-ju and Mong-gyu finally reunite in a Japanese prison, the revelation lands with quiet devastation. It's a portrait of how oppression crushes not just bodies but spirits, and how art endures even when the artist doesn't. Available with English subtitles on Amazon Video. "The Age of Shadows" (2016) If "Dongju" whispers, Kim Jee-woon's espionage thriller roars. Set in the 1920s, this lavish cat-and-mouse game follows colonial police captain Lee Jung-chool (Song Kang-ho) as he navigates the treacherous space between his Japanese employers and Korean freedom fighters. The film opens with a bravura sequence. Freedom fighters flee across moonlit rooftops while Japanese forces swarm over the buildings in pursuit. It sets the tone for what follows: two hours of double-crosses, shifting allegiances and gripping set pieces that recall everything from Carol Reed to Alfred Hitchcock. Song, reliably excellent, plays a man whose moral compass spins wildly as he engages in increasingly high-stakes deception. The director never lets clarity get in the way of momentum — you might lose track of who's betraying whom, but the sheer craft keeps you engaged. Also, at 140 minutes, it's deliberately maximalist, but that's part of the appeal. "The Age of Shadows" is blockbuster craftsmanship at its most audacious -- Kim shoots even throwaway dialogue scenes with the intensity of climactic confrontations. The Japanese characters may strike as cardboard cutout villains, but when the filmmaking is this assured, nuance takes a backseat to pure cinematic pleasure. Available with English subtitles on Apple TV and Prime Video. "Assassination" (2015) Choi Dong-hoon's sprawling adventure walks the tightrope between historical gravitas and popcorn entertainment. Set primarily in 1933, the height of Japanese occupation, it follows an agent from Korea's Shanghai-based provisional government who assembles three specialists — including sniper Ahn Ok-yun (Jun Ji-hyun) — to eliminate a Japanese commander and a Korean collaborator in Seoul. The plot quickly spirals into delicious complexity, with hired hitmen targeting the assassins, turncoats revealing their true colors, and a separated-at-birth subplot that somehow doesn't derail everything. Choi stages it all with real gusto, making good use of spectacles ranging from an explosive ambush at a gas station to a wedding that erupts into gunfire instead of bouquets. Jun Ji-hyun, also known as Gianna Jun, one of Korean entertainment's most bankable stars, brings steel to her role as the sharpshooting Ahn. The film surrounds her with colorful supporting players, including Ha Jung-woo as a suave contract killer and Lee Jung-jae as a slippery double agent whose loyalties shift like quicksand. At $16 million, it's clear as day that "Assassination" was built as a crowd-pleaser, and it shows in both the lavish period recreation and the occasionally broad emotional beats. Regardless of its commercial ambitions, when the film clicks — which is often — it delivers the kind of old-fashioned Saturday matinee thrills rarely seen in Korean cinema anymore. It's unabashedly commercial, but executed with enough style to sustain its formula.
Korea Herald
21 hours ago
- Korea Herald
A wish being realized
Published in 1947, 'Diary of Kim Koo,' an autobiographical writing by the independence movement leader Kim Koo, contains an addendum entitled 'The Nation That I Desire' in which he laid out his vision for the newly independent Korea. 'I want our nation to become the most beautiful nation in the world … I do not want our nation to become the richest and (most) powerful nation in the world. The only thing that I desire in infinite quantity is the power of a highly developed culture. This is because the power of culture both makes us happy and gives happiness to others,' he wrote. When, in 1945, it was liberated from 35 years of Japanese colonial rule, Korea was poor, mired in political turmoil and powerless in a world gripped by the Cold War. Faced with the daunting task of forging a modern nation-state in the aftermath of the brutal Japanese rule, Kim cast his eyes further into the future, one in which culture held the key to happiness and peace. Oh, if only he could see. Korea today is a cultural powerhouse. Hallyu, or the popularity of Korean cultural products, which emerged in the early 2000s with the export of Korean dramas to Japan, has gone global. K-pop, Korean films and K-dramas now top international charts and win prestigious awards around the world — think iconic K-pop boy group BTS, director Bong Joon-ho's 'Parasite' and the international megahit, 'Squid Game,' to name just a few. The country that nearly lost its writing system, Hangeul, as part of the Japanese colonial policy of cultural annihilation, has produced Asia's first woman Nobel literature laureate, Han Kang. Many other authors have won or have been nominated for prestigious literary awards, their stories resonating with the world. Korea's young classical musicians today take top prizes at numerous music competitions and perform on the world's most prestigious stages. The youngest-ever winner of the Van Cliburn Competition, pianist Lim Yunchan; Chopin Piano Competition winner, Cho Seong-jin; and Paganini Competition and Sibelius Competition winner, violinist Yang In-mo, join the ranks of conductor and pianist Chung Myung-whun, who won joint second place at the 1974 Tchaikovsky Competition; violinist Chung Kyung-wha; and the late pianist Han Dong-il, the winner of the 1965 Leventritt Competition. Also on the long list of notable achievements is the musical 'Maybe Happy Ending,' which won six awards at this year's Tony Awards, a sign of more Korean original musicals succeeding on Broadway and the West End. In recent years, Korean ballerinas and ballerinos have joined prestigious ballet companies, and Korean classical singers perform at opera houses around the world. Indeed, 80 years after liberation, Kim Koo's desire is being realized. There is a term for the kind of power that Kim desired: soft power. Defined broadly as the ability to influence others by attraction and persuasion, soft power stems from a country's culture, values and policies. South Korea ranks 12th in the Global Soft Power Index 2025 released by Brand Finance, a leading brand valuation company, jumping from last year's 15th place. Kim saw culture as a way to happiness and peace. He also believed Koreans had a role in achieving those cherished universal goals. 'I desire that a true world peace is fulfilled in, and because of, our nation ... Indeed, the days when our people will appear on the world stage as the main actors are just ahead of us,' Kim wrote. It would be shortsighted to view culture merely as a product. Like Kim, we should now cast our gaze further ahead by fostering originality and creativity and guaranteeing freedom of expression, artistic freedom and academic freedom.
