The Korea Herald

As China rises, top-selling painter looks to his roots

Oct 10, 2016

BEIJING (AFP) -- Blue-chip Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi built up a lucrative career by looking to the West for inspiration and buyers, but a new retrospective in Beijing reveals an unlikely turn back toward China’s own aesthetics and traditions.It is a story increasingly common in the world’s second largest economy, where and growing disillusionment with material wealth has sent a generation in search of a heritage lost. Zeng is China’s second best-selling living artist, according to wealth publis
[Highlights] Arts and entertainment calendar

Oct 7, 2016

Dance “Seoul International Dance Festival”: Seoul Selection of the International Dance Council CID-UNESCO will be hosting the 19th annual Seoul International Dance Festival until Oct. 15. From the French dance company Carolyn Carlson Company to the Madrid-based Larumbe Danza, contemporary dancers from across the globe will gather for the multi-week festival to showcase modern performances that highlight both Western and Eastern arts. Tickets range from 20,000 won to 70,000 won, and can be reserv
[Herald Interview] Glass artist Kim Ki-ra looks back on life

Oct 6, 2016

During the creation of her latest collection “Dear Life,” glass artist Kim Ki-ra went to hell and back, and lived to tell the tale. “While I was working on the series, I hit the lowest point of my life (due to personal issues),” the artist told The Korea Herald Tuesday at Gallery Sklo, where her solo exhibition is currently being held. “But during this time, I also realized that I can truly rely on myself as an artist, even in desperate situations.”　In those trying times, Kim found inspiration i
Contemporary art market slows as Chinese buyers switch focus

Oct 4, 2016

PARIS (AFP) - Global contemporary art sales slowed by a quarter in the year to July 2016 as demand in China dried up, according to leading index Artprice.Turnover was $1.5 billion (1.3 billion euros) compared with $2.1 billion in the previous year.“The market saw a healthy period of adjustment, which was as necessary as it was predictable,” Artprice founder and chief executive Thierry Ehrmann said in the report released on Sunday.Despite the correction, contemporary art “remains a particularly h
[Highlights] Arts and entertainment calendar

Sept 30, 2016

Exhibitions“Gathering Clouds”: Kukje Gallery is holding a solo exhibition of renowned artist Anish Kapoor until Oct. 30. The exhibition presents sculptures that are results of his exploration of materials and abstraction. On display are twisted rectangle stainless steel blocks with polished surfaces, and sculptural voids in fiberglass and steel at the K1 and K3 exhibition spaces. For more information, visit www.kukjegallery.com.“Traces of Life and Death”: Arario Gallery is holding a solo exhibit
Chin Un-suk named new SPO artistic adviser

Sept 28, 2016

Annual Ars Nova concert series to kick off next month
Portugal to keep Miro collection

Sept 28, 2016

LISBON (AFP) - The Portuguese government said Tuesday it has decided to keep 85 works by famed Spanish artist Joan Miro in the country after an uproar over their proposed sale to foreign buyers.The paintings, estimated to be worth around 35 million euros ($39 million), came under state ownership in 2008 when the government nationalized the failed bank BNP which had built up the Surrealist collection.The former center-right government put them up for auction in London in 2014 to raise cash, but t
Bums and cash set tongues wagging at UK's Turner Prize

Sept 27, 2016

LONDON (AFP) -- A giant backside, a mountain of money and chastity belts suspended from a ceiling: the Turner Prize once again looks set to divide the contemporary art world after unveiling its finalists in London on Monday.The four shortlisted artists have each taken over a room at Tate Britain, filling the famous gallery with all manner of materials, shapes and surprises for an exhibition that organizers hope will promote debate about art when it opens to the public Tuesday.The prize is awarde
‘Child porn’ row engulfs US photographer's Moscow show

Sept 26, 2016

MOSCOW (AFP) - Pro-Kremlin activists who threw urine at pictures by US photographer Jock Sturges -- best known for nude images of adolescents and their families -- on Sunday forced its closure, a day after a government adviser condemned the images as “child pornography.”Moscow gallery curator Natalia Litvinskaya told journalists the show had “nothing to do with pedophilia,” but that she took the decision to close after receiving “threats from absolutely delusional people”.The closure of the exhi
Florence museum head defends party rental in Pitti Palace

Sept 25, 2016

ROME (AP) -- A wild bachelor’s party at the Pitti Palace art museum in Florence?Nothing of the kind, says museum director Eike Schmidt, who is defending the Renaissance palazzo’s courtyard’s rental, saying it was for a pre-nuptial dinner paid for by an Italian company president who was getting married Saturday in a Florence church. Schmidt, who also directs the Uffizi Galleries, insisted in statement Saturday there was “nothing vulgar or excessive” about decorations in the courtyard for the part
[Highlights] Arts and entertainment calendar

Sept 23, 2016

Theater“Mr. Show”: Produced by renowned musical director Kolleen Park, the naughty male striptease “Mr. Show” is returning to the stage this year. The women-only variety show features strapping young men who dance and perform various themed acts geared toward tantalizing females. The live show, only for those 19 and above, will be staged from Saturday until Dec. 4 at the Shinhan Card Fan Square’s Live Hall in Seoul. Tickets are 52,000 won and 80,000 won. For more details, call (02) 547-5694. A s
NCCK to open with foreigner-friendly ‘L’Orfeo’

Sept 21, 2016

Nonverbal, subtitled cultural productions on the rise in Seoul
Artday to hold September auction

Sept 21, 2016

Herald Artday, a subsidiary of Herald Corp., is holding an online auction from Sept. 23-27, presenting major works of art by contemporary Korean and international artists. 　The art auction will feature numerous works of renowned Korean artists. In addition to painter Hwang Yeom-soo’s “Roses,” the lot includes Lee Man-ik’s “Family” series that captures the spirit of the traditional Korean household with a modern twist, hanji (traditional Korean paper) artist Chun Kwang-young’s texture-inspired se
Abu Dhabi names Louvre outpost director, plans 2017 launch

Sept 21, 2016

DUBAI (AP) -- Art lovers will have to wait a bit longer to visit a much-anticipated Mideast outpost of the Louvre, which will be headed by a Frenchman involved in the project for years. The Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority said Tuesday the branch in the United Arab Emirates capital will not host its first visitors until sometime in 2017. It is the latest in a series of delays for the project, which was originally slated to open in 2012. It most recently was expected to be finished by year
Big Bang’s T.O.P to take part in Sotheby’s charity auction

Sept 19, 2016

T.O.P of the popular K-pop boy band Big Bang said Monday he feels honored to curate a charity auction by one of the world’s largest brokers of collectibles. “I carefully chose each one of the items to be put on sale in this event together with Sotheby’s, keeping in close contact (with them) for more than one year,” the 29-year-old singer-rapper said during a news conference in Seoul to promote the event. “I feel really great and honored to be taking part in the event and for the confidence that