Artday holds charity auction featuring kite paintings

Artday, a sister company of The Korea Herald, holds a charity auction with Lotte Department Store Yeongdeungpo this week.

The event presents a collection of hand-painted kites made by 41 famous Korean artists.

The paintings are drawn on different-shaped traditional Korean kites ― the square “bangpae kites” and the triangular “ray kites.”

Kite flying is a traditional Korean winter pastime that people enjoyed during New Year’s Day. 

The event invited a number of famous Korean artists representing different genres of art from oriental paintings to pop art, including Kim Duk-ki, Sung Young-rok, Lee Sang-sun, Lee Woo-rim and Charles Jang.

Oriental painter Kim Duk-ki, known for warm and loving motifs and vibrant colors, presents a travel-themed painting drawn on the traditional Korean square-shaped bangpae kite.

The event also features more contemporary paintings such as Charles Jang’s graffiti-inspired pop art “Happiness,” Kim Yong-gwan’s “Vanishing Viewpoint” with geometric pattern paintings that include optical illusions, and Wee Young-il’s futuristic “SF Structures” kite paintings.

Most of the paintings are done on Korean mulberry paper called “hanji,” using different materials such as acrylic paints and watercolors.

The starting prices range from 100,000 won ($95) to 300,000 won.

The proceeds from the auction will go to a charity organization “Busrugy Love Community,” which helps unprivileged children and teenagers.

The works are on display until Feb. 11 in Lotte Gallery of Lotte Department Store Yeongdeungpo, Seoul. Online bidding takes place at www.auction.artday.co.kr. The auction closes one item per minute starting at 5 p.m. on Jan. 23.

For more information, call (02) 3210-2255.

By Lee Woo-young  (wylee@heraldcorp.com)