Artists You Will Know

June 20, 2024

Sungsil Ryu

Sungsil Ryu (b. 1993)

Having spent most of her life in Seoul, Ryu’s work across performative video works and sculpture installations offer an exaggerated mirror of contemporary Korea’s culture of trend-chasing and entrepreneurship. Last year, she became the youngest artist ever to receive the Hèrmes Foundation Missulsang, a prize awarded to a young Korean artist every two years with an accompanying solo exhibition at the Atelier Hèrmes in Gangnam. Now on view through Oct. 2, “The Burning Love Story” steps inside the bizarre fictional world of a self-aggrandizing businessman’s funeral home for dogs, featuring a large sculpture of a crematorium and three different characters played by Ryu on video screens. She is represented by P21 gallery (see our Itaewon/Hannam Neighborhood Guide).

^{Sungsil Ryu, The Burning Love Song, 2022, at Atelier Hèrmes, Seoul)}

Hejum Bä

Hejum Bä (b. 1987)

Bä’s paintings often hint at representations of origami, sliced fruit, fields of grass, or other landscapes, abstracting the subject through unexpected color interactions. She had three solo exhibitions in Seoul in 2021: “Combo” at Whistle Gallery, “Following Fyka Foretold…” at SeMA Storage, and “PLOTLESS” at the Kumho Museum. She was also included in the exhibition “Young Korean Artists 2021,” at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Gwacheon.

^{Hejum Bä, Architecture Before Construction, 2019}

Mire Lee

Mire Lee (b. 1988)

Often resembling strange systems of digestive organs, Lee’s assemblages of silicone and hoses challenge familiar notions of beauty and cleanliness. As seen in the international pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale, many of her works seem to come to life by continuously dripping water from multiple connected hoses. Lee’s major solo exhibitions include “War is Won by Sentiment Not by Soldiers,” at Insa Art Space, in 2014, and “Carriers,” at Art Sonje Center in 2020. She was also included in a group exhibition at the Seoul Art Museum in 2016 and was shortlisted for the 2021 Future Generation Art Prize. As the 2022 recipient of the Pontopreis MMK prize, her work is currently on view through Sept. 4 at the Frankfurt MMK museum. She is represented by Tina Kim.

^{Mire Lee, Endless House-Holes and Drips, 2022, at the 59th Venice Biennale}

Cindy Ji Hye Kim

Cindy Ji Hye Kim (b. 1990)

Kim’s drawings and paintings depict a black-and-white cartoon world with subtle hints of horror. Invoking dreams or the eerie half-darkness of laying in bed late at night, they feature the recurring motifs of bedrooms, bones, and silhouetted figures of men with large top hats and women with voluminous hair. Recent solo exhibitions at her galleries include “Soliloquy for two,” at François Ghebaly in 2021 and “In despite of light” at Casey Kaplan in 2022. Though she shows primarily in the U.S., she was included in Various Small Fires’ Seoul group exhibition “Next of Kin” in 2020.

Cindy Ji Hye Kim, In Despite of Light, 2022, at Casey Kaplan

^{Cindy Ji Hye Kim, In Despite of Light, 2022, at Casey Kaplan}

U-Ram Choe

U-Ram Choe (b. 1970)

Based in Seoul, Choe creates intricate kinetic sculptures that are inspired by natural forms and movements, resulting from extensive anatomical research. From 2016-17, his solo exhibition, “’Choe U-Ram:[Stil laif],” traveled from the National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts in Taichung to Korea’s Daegu Art Museum. He is represented by Gallery Hyundai and was included in the gallery’s 50th-anniversary exhibition in 2020. This year, he was selected as the Seoul National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s Hyundai Motor Series artist, and his newly commissioned installation, “Paper Boat,” will be on view Sept.-Feb. 2023 as part of the associated exhibition.

^{U-Ram Choe, Song of the Sun, 2022}

Ayoung Kim

Ayoung Kim (b. 1973)

Kim’s practice focuses on speculative storytelling, weaving a diversity of narrative mediums together to blur the line between fiction and real-life issues including Korean history and geopolitics, migration, and the future of the human experience. She staged at least one major performance piece each year from 2013-2017, represented Korea in the 2015 Venice Biennale, had solo exhibitions at the Palais de Tokyo, and won the 2019 Korean Art Prize. Her new solo exhibition, “Syntax and Sorcery,” is on view at Gallery Hyundai through Sept. 13.