It is time for K-art to take off

From the big museums and galleries to alternative spaces in Euljiro and Hapjeong run by young curators and artists, journalist and critic Andy St. Louis, who runs Seoul Art Friend—a platform where he visits and photographs exhibitions in Seoul and writes about them in English—recently published Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art, an English-language introduction to Korea’s millennial artists.

“Now that interest in Korean culture is exploding, it's time for not only pop culture but also Korean contemporary artists to take off internationally,” St. Louis said in an interview at the Dong-A Media Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul, on the 23rd. This American journalist has been traveling the Korean art scene since 2010, writing exhibition reviews and criticism for English-language media. After returning to the U.S. in 2013 and then to Korea in 2018, he founded the Instagram account Seoul Art Friend, where he has been sharing information about exhibitions in Seoul with an international audience ever since.

The book focuses on 25 artists born after the late 1970s, including Kang Seo-kyeong, Kim A-young, Park Ga-hee, Baek Jung-k, and Lee Un-sae. “I feel close to them because I am a millennial myself, and I feel that they are more actively engaged in international cultural issues than previous generations,” he says of the focus on younger artists. “I see their reinterpretation of history and tradition, their subversion of socio-cultural norms, and their active assertion of personal identity as being in touch with international cultural discourse.”

“With the arrival of international galleries in Seoul and the opening of the Frieze Art Fair, there have been many changes in Korea’s art market,” says the journalist, who has been following the Korean art scene for over a decade.

“In particular, Hannam, Itaewon, and Gyeongridan, where new galleries have sprung up, have influenced the growth of the art scene,” he said. “Millennial artists, in particular, are becoming more interested in the international art scene while at the same time honing their own ways of expression‎. It's exciting to be part of the scene where a new generation of artists is expanding the influence of Korean art.”


Min Kim kimmin@donga.com