Frieze Seoul, Gwangju Biennale, and more: Filipino visual artists in the spotlight in South Korea last September 2024

Avid art collector Timothy Tan shared with Tatler how much he loved Mark Rothko and Lee Ufan’s shows at PACE Gallery. “The selections are excellent,” Tan remarked.

Open for viewing until October 26, the exhibition titled Correspondence: Lee Ufan and Mark Rothko, features the works of two leading figures in the avant-garde scenes of their respective worlds. Lee’s works capture the fleeting energy of a brushstroke and concretise it into the immediacy of colour, making it feel as solid as stone. Similarly, Rothko congeals the atmosphere into the fixed stability of form. Visitors of the gallery space in Itaewon will be welcomed by Lee’s 2024 work, Relatum—Correspondence, installed in the courtyard. It is a heavy stone dropped on a steel plate—a work that examines the relationship between individual elements as defined by both space and objecthood.

Read more: Reimagining history: How is Stephanie Syjuco breathing new life into archives?

Meanwhile, interior designer Carol Karthe was enamoured by David Zwirner’s booth, which featured exceptional works by Yayoi Kusama, Luc Tuymans, Josef Albers, Gerard Richter, Elizabeth Peyton, and Katherine Bernhardt, among others.

“[It] stood out to me for its masterful curation of both emerging and established artists, reflecting a balance between bold new voices and iconic figures in contemporary art,” Karthe shared with Tatler. The booth featured striking works that played with space and perception, offering a visually captivating experience that lingered with Karthe long after viewing.

“Additionally, the gallery’s focus on pushing boundaries while staying grounded in historical context made it a highlight of this year’s exhibition, showcasing the power of art to provoke thought and inspire dialogue,” Karthe said. 

The Focus Asia section of Frieze continued to spotlight emerging artists from the region, strengthening the fair’s dedication to nurturing local talent, as commented by Karthe.

Among Asian artists who had solo exhibitions from their respective galleries, Mark Salvatus gave pride to the Philippines while being presented by the Drawing Room gallery under the masterful eye of Carlos Villalon, Jr.

Justiniani’s mixed-media installations, including one that resembles a nested wormhole, realise the visual narrative of a journey bridging the earthly and celestial realms. The recurring motifs in these tunnels mimic hymns and prayers, weaving together worlds across vast distances.

Thought-provoking and immersive, Justiniani’s works are futuristic passageways to retrospection, evoking potential revelations waiting to be unearthed. 

This year’s Frieze Art Fair in Seoul surely piqued the creative minds of many guests, frequent visitors and first-timers alike.

“As a Filipino designer passionate about art, I’m always seeking new perspectives and inspiration from different cultural contexts,” Karthe said. “Frieze Seoul offers a unique opportunity to explore cutting-edge contemporary art from both Asian and global artists, which I haven’t experienced before. This year’s event promises a blend of established galleries and emerging talents, making it the perfect destination to broaden my creative horizons.”

For Tan, Frieze also didn’t disappoint in showing new ways to highlight today’s contemporary art scene. “They are pushing the envelope of art,” he said. “I am impressed with the selection of contemporary art, especially the sculptural and installation works this year. Refik Anadol’s exhibition at Futura Seoul stood out to me. The works were being shown at Serpentine galleries early this year, which I missed to see.”

Karthe noted the addition of Frieze Live, a new section dedicated to performance art, which gave this year’s edition an edge over previous editions.

Jang Sumi, an artist based in Seoul and Berlin, and her collective of dancers performed at the Frieze Live section, exploring the encounter between the individual body and the ‘external forces of society’, which was the audience who watched them perform.

Another significant feature Karthe identified was Frieze Film in collaboration with Ewha Media Art Presentation (EMAP), which showcased time-based media art across various venues in Seoul. The section explored themes of interconnectedness and quantum physics.

“After two days of previewing Frieze Seoul 2024 and attending some of the vibrant after-parties, I realised how interconnected and collaborative the global art world truly is,” Karthe said. “Meeting so many industry peers, from artists to curators to gallery owners, reaffirmed that these events are as much about exchanging ideas and networking as they are about the art itself. The emphasis on contemporary Asian art and the cross-cultural dialogues made me appreciate how fairs like Frieze bridge local and global perspectives, offering fresh insights that fuel my own creative journey,” she concluded.

Running until December 1, the Gwangju Biennale features the Philippine Pavilion’s 2024 exhibition, Locations of Freedom. 

For its largest edition to date, coinciding with its 30th anniversary, the Gwangju Biennale continues to promote globally relevant messages of democracy, peace, and the upholding of human rights through visual arts. The Philippine Pavilion, supported by Fundacion Sanso, at the Asia Culture Center’s Gallery 5 highlights the works of Toym Leon Imao, Sari Dalena, Adjani Arumpac, Paul Eric Roca, Veejay Villafranca, Dennis Montera, Avie Felix, and Karl Castro.

“The common thread between the work of seven Filipino artists pursuing their own version of ‘revolutionary’ work is perhaps a combination of fiery passion and desperation,” Felix wrote in his curatorial notes.

“These Filipino artists have embarked on a journey that is comparable to the arduous search for treasure, memory, and cure in order to trace, commemorate, and revive revolution,” Felix continued.

The show also celebrates the 75th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the Philippines and the Republic of Korea.

Inside Korea Special Exhibition Hall in Busan, Silverlens participates in the exhibition highlighting ASEAN art. The exhibition, A Heart that Weaves Banana Leaves, includes the works of Carlo Enciso Catu, Patricia Perez Eustaquio, Geraldine Javier, Marcos Kueh, Tiffany Loy, Yesun Shin, Keith Khanh Truong, Yee I-Lann, and the Filipino crafts company Woven.

This exhibition spotlights fibre art, focusing on how the medium of fibre is used and transformed in the visual language of the ASEAN region. 

“This exhibition at the KF ASEAN Culture House... aims to break away the existing trends of mainstream fibre art exhibitions, focusing instead on ‘enjoyment’, ‘healing’, and ‘rehabilitation’ as intrinsic functions of the act of weaving,” the exhibition note reads.

The works of the nine artists and teams showcased in this exhibition invite lively participation through messages of hope and tranquillity—and all without neglecting profound social commentary. The exhibition runs until November 3.

Lastly, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), supported by the Japan Foundation in Seoul and the Philippine Embassy in Seoul, opened a must-see exhibition of Asian women artists.

Featuring renowned artists from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, and Thailand, the exhibition Connecting Bodies, curated by Myungji Bae, has around 130 artworks to see until March 3, 2025. 

“Connecting Bodies: Asian Women Artists attempts a new examination of the contemporary meaning of post-1960s art by Asian women from the perspective of ‘corporeality’,” the exhibition note reads. The exhibition was developed as part of an Asian art project by the MMCA, which has carried out comparative research and exhibitions on Asian contemporary art beyond national borders.

“The body is a place where various ideologies and situations intersect, and it also a locus that reveals difference and diversity,” the statement continued.

The exhibition consists of six sections: “Choreograph Life”, which spotlights work that expresses the life experiences and memories inscribed upon the body with a complex post-1960s Asian history defined by phenomena of colonisation, the Cold War and other warfare, migration, capitalism, and patriarchy; “Flexible Territories of Sexuality”, which shares work by Asian women artists who question the social norms and cultural values surrounding sexuality as they focus on images and areas that are considered socially taboo, including representations of sex, death, pleasure, and pain; “Bodies·God(desse)s·Cosmology”, which presents works that adopt images of gods and goddesses from different Asian countries’ folk mythology as themes and subjects of representation or that explores the body as a microcosm of the universe from the cosmological perspective; “Street Performances”, which highlights Asian women artists’ staged performances on city streets and in everyday settings in their attempts to break down boundaries between art and life; “Repeating Gestures‒Bodies·Objects·Language”, which focuses on repetition in performances such as gestures and actions that put emphasis on temporality and continuity; and “Bodies as Becoming-Connecting Bodies”, which presents works by Asian women artists who attempt to challenge hierarchies and binary distinctions (mind and body, human and nature, subject and object, human and non-human, male and female).

NOW READ

What’s next in Manila’s art scene? Discover exhibitions and events this September

National Artist Arturo Luz’s genius lives through ‘Improvisations’ by Rustan’s for the Arts

Can art grow? Metrobank Art & Design Excellence’s 40th anniversary exhibition, ‘Sibol’, proves it can