Sohl Lee's Top Picks from Frieze Seoul Viewing Room 2023
The art historian and author of Reimagining Democracy recommends five favorites including works by Otobong Nkanga, Lee Bul and Adrian Villar Rojas
The art historian and author of Reimagining Democracy recommends five favorites including works by Otobong Nkanga, Lee Bul and Adrian Villar Rojas
OTOBONG NKANGA
Altered Life, 2023
Woven textile on aluminium frame
66.93" x 35.43" x 1.57" (170 cm x 90 cm x 4 cm)
Presented by Lisson Gallery
"In the words of artist Otobong Nkanga, 'caring is a form of resistance.' And I might add persistence and diligence to the scaffolds that support the work of caring manifest in this research-driven artist’s manifold practices. Standing before Altered Life, we feel stories of the land, non-human lives of the underwater, people of the underworld, and our imaginations for another world—altogether come alive on the woven textile, where layers of threads collapse into the depth of historical research and the resounding affect therein."
WOOK-KYUNG CHOI
Untitled, 1968
Paint on paper
24.61" x 18.9" (62.5 cm x 48 cm)
Presented by Tina Kim Gallery
"In structure and gesture, the paint fights the support while dancing on it. The rare female abstract painter hailing from South Korea, Wook-kyung Choi finally had her first major retrospective at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) in 2021, more than 35 years after her premature death at age 45."
LEE BUL
Perdu CLXXIX, 2023
Mother-of-pearl, acrylic paint on wooden base panel, stainless steel frame
62.99" x 43.31" x 2.36" (160 cm x 110 cm x 6 cm)
Presented by Thaddaeus Ropac
"Having launched her spectacular career amid the late 1980s postmodern turn in South Korea with scene-shattering performances and tentacled bodysuits, Lee Bul reinvents her practices every 5-10 years, each time with conceptually provocative and visually expansive works. The mother-of-pearl sparks, while offering a glimpse into Lee’s lasting interests in shimmery, glittery materials. It jazzes with acrylic paint that feels both asphyxiating and liberating."
ADRIAN VILLAR ROJAS
Untitled 17. From the series "The End of Imagination", 2023
Live simulations of active digital ecologies, and layered composites of organic, inorganic, human, and machine-made matter
H: 71,5 x W: 55 x L: 59 cm
Presented by Kurimanzutto
"What does it mean to engage with the human and non-human environments in the age of climate catastrophe and machine learning? Adrián Villar Rojas’s variegated practices seem to probe this question. The visually titillating and fantastically gruesome object offers such an inquiry, but no clear answer."
SUNG NEUNG KYUNG
Smoking - contact print, 1976
contact print
7.91" x 6.5" (20.1 cm x 16.5 cm)
Presented by Lehmann Maupin
"A conceptually-oriented artist active since the early 1970s, Neung Kyung Sung makes photographic documentation of his performances. Some of the early works are presented at the exhibition Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s, currently on its US tour. While the photographs index the multiple actions that make up each performative event, the contact prints are unique in tracing the marks that expose how the artist edits, selects, and curates the documentation of his performance. The marks made with marker pens also anticipate his intervention into duplicated press photographs in the 'Venue' series."
About Sohl Lee
Sohl Lee, PhD is an art historian specializing in global contemporary art and an Associate Professor in the Department of Art at the State University of New York (SUNY), Stony Brook. Her book Reimagining Democracy, forthcoming from Duke University Press, traces the multifaceted process by which a particular decolonial aesthetics of politics emerged during South Korea’s democratization. Her current research projects include Buddhist modernism across the world, the Afro-Asian circulation of North Korean art and visual culture, and the global ocean aesthetics. A seaweed aficionado, Sohl enjoyed participating in Flavors of the Sea, a performance by ikkibawiKrrr at 2023 Frieze Seoul.
FURTHER INFORMATION
About Frieze Viewing Room
Frieze Viewing Room is a free digital platform connecting global audiences with Frieze’s galleries and artists.
Opening to all from August 30-September 12, the Viewing Room is the catalog for Frieze Seoul 2023 and offers visitors a preview of the wealth of gallery presentations coming to the fair, as well as the chance for audiences around the world to experience and acquire the artwork on show.
Frieze Seoul
Frieze Seoul returns to COEX from September 6–9, 2023. Discover the best art from more than 120 leading galleries from across Asia and beyond. Located in the Gangnam district in the heart of Seoul, the fair runs alongside Kiaf SEOUL, South Korea’s leading art fair.
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