Actor Ha Jung-woo has been painting since when he was in his early 20s. His works were shown at art fairs from time to time, but they did not receive much attention. His works were largely overlooked because of the overall hostility harbored by the art industry toward celebrities picking up the brush. It came as a surprise to many when Hakgojae Gallery, considered conservative in its approach, opened a solo exhibition of Ha’s works on Wednesday. Woo Chung-woo, director of Hakgojae Gallery

An exhibition of digital artworks exploring Korea’s Joseon-era (1392-1910) gardens will run through Oct. 27 at Saatchi Gallery in London as part of a Korean government project to showcase Korean content using the latest technologies. The Byeolseo gardens were where retired Joseon officials, looking for a life with nature, ruminated on beauty and life while surrounded by scenic landscapes. Four representations modeled after the extant Byeolseo gardens in South Jeolla Province will be showca

Looking back on the past five decades, painter Kim Byung-jong said he was “raised by nature” when he was a child, which has shaped his artistic inspiration until the present day. The energy, colors – particularly the theme of life – seen in his works come from nature. Born in Namwon, a small city located just outside South Korea’s largest set of mountains, Jirisan National Park, Kim recalled the sound of the leaves of bamboo trees behind his house brushing against e

Korean craft is making inroads in Germany. The Berlin Craft-expansion Fair is the latest highlight for Cheyul, a Korean luxury handcraft brand invited to participate with a collection that is definitively Korean in origin but deeply universal in aesthetic appeal. The inaugural fair was held from Wednesday to Saturday. Cheyul’s 25-piece collection ranging from lacquered furniture to a black porcelain moon jar -- alongside 20 pieces from nine Korean craftspeople -- made up close to half of t

As this year marks the first anniversary of the death of Korean dansaekhwa master Park Seo-bo, galleries in Korea and abroad are commemorating his legacy by unveiling his last body of paintings and works that capture the artist created by Korean sculptor Gwon Osang. White Cube in New York will show Park’s “Newspaper Ecriture” for the first time, the final body of work created by the artist before his passing in 2023. The exhibition offers an opportunity to learn how the artist

A two-day forum on promoting intangible cultural heritage will take place next week in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, hosted jointly by the Korea Heritage Service and UNESCO’s Asia-Pacific office handling intangible cultural heritage. The Oct. 17-18 meeting, held annually and now in its eighth edition, will explore how peoples have maintained their self-identities over migration and what intangible cultural heritage could do to help advance cultural diversity. Over 30 participants from 14

The Herald Design Forum 2024 took place Tuesday at Sebitseom in southern Seoul, in the floating cultural complex in Han river with the theme of “Inspiration, Limitless?” inviting architects, designers, visual content creators and top experts in cutting-edge technology who push their boundary in the fields. “For the past 13 years, the Herald Design Forum has brought together more than 100 design experts to discuss how design has evolved and changed our society, joined by more th

Effective communication is crucial in the visual effects and motion graphics field, experts said Tuesday during a roundtable session held at the Herald Design Forum 2024 in the Floating Island Convention Center on the Han River, Seoul. The roundtable, hosted by YouTuber GeniusSKLee, brought together top experts in these cutting-edge fields, including Weta FX senior facial modeler Hwang Jung-rock, Weta FX CG supervisor Choi Jong-jin, and motion graphic designer Kim Gryun." Hwang, senior faci

Humanity lies in the architecture touched by Pritzker Prize-winning architects Anne Lacaton and Jean Philippe Vassal. They pay tribute to what is already existing, whether it is nature, humans or other buildings. “It is about transformation from the existing, and with the existing,” Vassal said at the Herald Design Forum 2024 held on Tuesday in Seoul with the theme of “Inspiration, Limitless?” The duo's renovation of a 16-story, 96-unit social housing tower block, &l

Hwang Jung-rock, a senior facial modeler at Weta FX, one of the world's leading visual effects companies, emphasized the importance of artists' creativity in facial modeling during a lecture at the Herald Design Forum 2024, held at the Floating Island Convention Center on the Han River, Seoul, Tuesday. Hwang explained that his role involves creating a digital "puppet" of a character's face for films, designed to capture even the smallest nuances of an actor's perfor

Choi Jong-jin, a CG supervisor at Weta FX, the leading visual effects company in the industry, dedicated significant effort to crafting the realistic and stunning water scenes in the 2022 blockbuster "Avatar: The Way of Water." “The scale of CG work for ‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ surpassed anything I’ve encountered in previous films. Two-thirds of all shots in the movie involve water,” Choi explained. “We typically start by shooting reference clips w

Three French architects -- Anne Lacaton, Jean Philippe Vassal and Jean-Michel Wilmotte -- shared their core philosophies that have guided their decades-long careers during an architecture roundtable and Q&A following their presentations at the Herald Design Forum 2024, held in Seoul, on Tuesday. “The most important thing will be for whom we are doing this work,” said Lacaton, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect who received the award with Vassal in 2021. “Architecture is a

“The 63 Building is a major landmark in Seoul. It will soon become an icon that promotes the Centre Pompidou Seoul," said Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the celebrated French architect, during a session at the Herald Design Forum 2024. The 76-year-old architect -- with three offices in Paris, one in Nice, two in Italy, one in London and one in Seoul -- has been chosen to refurbish 15,000 square meters of the Yeouido skyscraper, from the underground level to the fourth floor above ground, for t

What does it mean to be a visual content creator, such as a webtoon creator, emoji designer or cartoonist? How do these artists, whose work is part of our daily lives, draw their inspiration? A trio of visual artists -- Koo Ji-min, known by her alias, Koohie, Hong In-hye, also known as Lunapark, and Kim Ha-na -- explored the meaning of being a visual content creator at the Herald Design Forum 2024, held Tuesday at the Floating Island Convention Center on the Han River in Seoul. During the spec

"Design is not only artwork, but also an experience that integrates technology, creativity and content," Johnny Lee, founder of iStaging, a Taipei-based tech firm specializing in virtual reality solutions, said during his speech at The Herald Design Forum 2024, held at the Floating Island Convention Center on the Han River, Seoul, Tuesday. In his special lecture, "Designing a Journey to See Imagination through XR," Lee outlined the guiding principles behind his approach to