Mi-suk Kim, Breadth of Memory, ottchil and mother-of-pearl on wood, 90x122cm, 2025

 

 

Gi-won Yoon, Sexy Guy, acrylic on canvas, 162×130.3cm, 2024

 

 

OMAE Gallery presents Layers of the Self, a two-person exhibition by Mi-suk Kim and Gi-won Yoon that reimagines the possibilities of contemporary portraiture.

 

Mi-suk Kim incorporates mother-of-pearl and lacquer into painting, transforming female figures into luminous images that embody dignity and resilience. Gi-won Yoon explores the resonance of color, expressing psychological depth through layered hues and fluid brushwork.

 

Together, their works expand the tradition of portraiture beyond physical likeness, offering fresh interpretations of the human spirit through light and color.

 

• Special Event on Samcheong Night

As part of this exhibition, OMAE Gallery will host a special Opening Reception on Thursday, September 4, 2025, from 7:00 to 10:00, in celebration of Samcheong Night during Frieze Week. The main program will take place from 8:00 to 9:00, featuring a meeting with the artists, wine and refreshments, music, and special events. Guests are also welcome to enjoy the gallery during the free session hours before and after the program.

 

 

 

 

Mi-suk Kim (b. 1983)

Misuk Kim is an artist who reinterprets Korea’s traditional materials—mother-of-pearl and lacquer—into contemporary portraiture. Her paintings portray captivating images of women, infused with elegance and resilience. With refined craftsmanship and a sophisticated sense of color, she creates unique surfaces where light and material harmonize. The subtle iridescence of mother-of-pearl and the depth of lacquer lend lyrical qualities to expressions and moods, forming an aesthetic that intersects tradition and modernity, decoration and painting. Through this practice, Kim expands the language of Korean beauty for the present day, offering viewers a visual experience that is at once powerful and graceful.

 

 

Gi-won Yoon (b. 1974)

Since graduating from Hongik University’s Department of Painting in 2003, Giwon Yoon has dedicated more than two decades to portraiture. His ongoing practice has unfolded through series such as Friends, Portraits of Artists, and FACE, which explore human relationships, psychology, expression, and aura. Using layers of color and fluid brushwork, Yoon reveals the emotions that lie beneath outward appearance, extending the traditional Korean concept of jeonsin—capturing the spirit—into a contemporary context. Yoon’s portraits synthesize figure, background, and the resonance of color into organic compositions, exploring the sensory and emotional possibilities of painting today.

 

 

Roentgen Garden, mother-of-pearl coloring on hanji canvas, 130x160cm_2025, each

 

 

OMAE Gallery presents Roentgen’s Garden, a solo exhibition by artist Ki-chang Han, who has uniquely visualized the intersection of tradition and modernity through his distinctive artistic language.

 

Han’s work captures the image of a garden that traverses the boundaries of life and death, pain and healing, shadow and light—expressed through lines and colors painted onto X-ray film. These works are acclaimed for offering deep consolation to those who have passed through inner darkness.

 

The exhibition features new pieces that highlight the aesthetics of Eastern spatial emptiness, based on traditional motifs such as mother-of-pearl and hwajohwa (bird-and-flower painting).

 

Additionally, installations using lightboxes invite viewers to experience a shifting “garden of light,” revealing Han’s unique vision of Korean identity through light.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oasis, cloisone, silver, bronze, 110x110cm(frame), 2023

 

 

OMAE Gallery presents The Song of Fire and Flowers, a solo exhibition by artist Soo-kyung Lee (b. 1946), who has inherited the tradition of Korean cloisonné and expanded it into a contemporary art form. Lee, who was trained in royal cloisonné techniques at Nakseonjae in Changdeokgung Palace during the 1960s, has dedicated 58 years to this singular path and was recognized as Korea’s first Grand Master in the field of cloisonné.

 

‘Cloisonné’ is a decorative art in which glassy enamel is applied to metal and fired at high temperatures. Lee has developed over 100 unique colors, establishing a singular and distinctive artistic world.

 

Through Soo-kyung Lee’s cloisonné art, which harmonizes tradition and modernity, technique and emotion, craftsmanship and artistic vision, OMAE Gallery seeks to illuminate the depth and richness of Korean craft.

 

 

 

Before and After, 130cmx130cm, Acrylic, crystal and Mother of Pearl on Canvas, 2019

 

 

Hyun-sook Jeong is an artist who has continuously expanded the definition of painting through the use of luminous materials such as mother-of-pearl and crystal. These materials transcend mere ornamentation, embracing the perceptual, sensory, spiritual, and structural questions of contemporary art. This exhibition offers a diachronic perspective on her two-decade-long exploration of “painting with light,” “painting as object,” and “painting as perception.”

 

Spanning from her formal experiments of the 2000s to her recent monochromatic minimalism, this exhibition chronologically presents how the traditional material of mother-of-pearl has been used to construct temporal layers. It is not merely a record of one artist’s trajectory, but a rigorous inquiry traversing tradition and modernity, craft and fine art, modernism and the postmodern era.

 

 

About wish 2532, 한재에 채색과 바느질, 130x130cm, 2025

 

 

Over the past several years, Soon-cheol Kim has been exploring the interplay between materiality and emotion in contemporary Korean art through a unique technique she calls Hoesu (繪繡)—a practice that merges painting and embroidery on traditional Korean hanji paper. By positioning painting and needlework side by side, Kim subtly exposes the tensions between tradition and modernity, flatness and dimensionality, intuition and handcraft.

 

In her latest Butterfly series, presented at her solo exhibition at OMAE Gallery, Kim builds upon his earlier Flower series by layering a new symbolic system. She juxtaposes the flower—a static, life-filled form—with the butterfly—a dynamic and elusive presence—on a single canvas, invoking the simultaneous coexistence of temporality and sensuality, presence and absence. The iconography of “flowers and butterflies,” deeply rooted in East Asian aesthetics, has long symbolized life, hope, transience, and cyclical renewal. Kim intertwines this symbolism with her personal theme of “wish,” infusing her work with a more intimate lyricism.

 

The Labyrinth of Origin 24, mixed media on handmade Korean mulberry paper, 130x130cm, 2024

 

 

OMAE Gallery presents The Labyrinth of Origin, a solo exhibition by SEOSY (世悟示), as the first show of its spring season. The exhibition highlights the artist’s acclaimed reinterpretation of gold leaf aesthetics in a contemporary context. SEOSY is the artistic sub-character created in 2024 by Sooyoung Seo, a renowned color painter known for her figurative works rooted in traditional Korean sensibilities and motifs, with over 30 solo exhibitions held both in Korea and internationally.

 

In contrast to Soo-young Seo’s figurative style, SEOSY explores abstraction, using gold leaf as a central medium. As the name “SEOSY” (世悟示) suggests—meaning “one who reveals spiritual awakening to the world”—the artist follows a path of inquiry into questions such as “What is origin, essence, and foundation?” With a doctorate in traditional gold pigment techniques, SEOSY demonstrates exceptional expertise in the contemporary interpretation of traditional forms.

 

This exhibition features over 30 works in both two-dimensional and installation formats, all of which reinterpret traditional gold leaf techniques through SEOSY’s unique artistic language. Meditative, serene, and resonant, SEOSY’s works invite viewers into a quiet space of subtle yet profound contemplation.

 

 

 

 

 

The Most Beautiful Moment in Life – Plum blossom, acrylic on terracotta panel, 165x95x10cm(L), 95x98x7cm(R), 2024

 

 

Artist Ji-sook Lee has consistently worked in terracotta reliefs, gaining popularity with her book-themed series inspired by minhwa (Korean folk painting) motifs. Another well-received body of work includes her “Candy” series. In this exhibition, she presents a new piece titled Plum Blossom. As plum blossoms bloom even in the snow, they symbolize the ability to flourish and bear fruit despite hardship and adversity.

 

Lee continues to work under the overarching theme of Hwayangyeonhwa—“the most beautiful moment in life”—and she sees the plum blossom as a true embodiment of this concept: a flower that turns difficulty into beauty, and memory into poetry. Her decision to depict plum blossoms not under bright sunlight, but within darkness and snow, reflects the belief that true beauty shines even more after enduring pain. We hope viewers will find deep comfort in her new works Night Plum Blossom and Plum in the Snow.

 

Beyond the horizon, hemp, silk thread, machine stitching, lacquer, 150x100x12cm, 2025

 

 

She is widely known as a textile artist who folds and sews hemp or ramie to create infinitely evolving forms.

 

The title of her solo exhibition, Beyond the Boundary, reflects her desire to draw a parallel between the endlessly repeated, folded fabric forms and the new worlds she encounters as she continues to challenge herself beyond her own limits.

 

The sculptural works created by Hana Jo grow clearer in line and softer in light the longer one observes them, evoking a sense of eternity that invites boundless imagination in the viewer.

 

In this, her 13th solo exhibition, she presents larger-scale works rather than small pieces, pouring all her energy into transcending her own artistic boundaries.

 

 

 

Peony motif lacquered double openwork, 65(h) x 25cm, reduction firing at 1270°C, 2010s

 

 

A commemorative exhibition marking the 10th anniversary of the passing of ceramic master Seunggeun Jeon of Muto, renowned for his double openwork technique and praised for having made a “remarkable contribution to Korean ceramics after the era of Goryeo celadon,” will be held at OMAE Gallery for one month until February 28, 2025.

 

His precise openwork pieces are particularly noteworthy as they were created at a time when the quality of clay was inferior to today’s standards and had extremely high shrinkage rates. His non-orthogonal forms evoke deep admiration, especially considering the technical difficulty of maintaining their shape through the drying and firing processes.

 

We hope that Korea’s proud ceramic tradition will continue to remember his legacy and, through him, be passed down and flourish even further.

 

 

 

Blue Dragon, mixed media, 91x73cm, 2008

 

 

Born in 1951 in Gyeongju, Sun-lee Kim has never ceased painting since she first picked up a brush in 1955. At a time when societal expectations confined women to household labor and denied them the freedom to pursue artistic careers, she forged her own path—quietly but persistently—without ever pausing her artistic journey.

 

Deeply influenced by traditional Korean minhwa (folk painting), and shaped by over a decade of study in both folk art and ceramics, Kim has developed a distinct body of work in low-relief ceramic sculpture. Her unique mixed-media creations range across various themes, notably her celebrated “Tiger and Rooster” series and her powerful ceramic series.

 

This exhibition focuses on her large-scale earthenware works—pieces that evoke echoes of ancient forms, yet feel strikingly contemporary. Though sculpted from earth, her works transcend their material, conveying a sense of vitality that is both timeless and bold. The emotional depth and formal clarity of her art emerge from thousands of drawings and years of working on monumental canvases, resulting in a visual language that is truly her own.