With over 210 galleries participating from 20 countries, the fair sees leading South Korean galleries including Kukje Gallery and Arario Gallery return, along with some new additions including Galerie Thomas and Lucie Chang Fine Arts.

Browse our selection of favourites showing in Seoul ahead of the fair opening.

Ugo Rondinone, zweitermärzzweitausenddreiundzwanzig (2022). Watercolour on canvas, artist’s frame. 200 x 300 cm. Courtesy studio rondinone and Kukje Gallery, Seoul/Busan.

Ugo Rondinone‘s zweitermärzzweitausenddreiundzwanzig (2022) at Kukje Gallery

Celebrated for his contemplative oeuvre which reflects on the theme of time, Ugo Rondinone has mastered the art of capturing patience and stillness on canvas.

zweitermärzzweitausenddreiundzwanzig (2022) features a horizontal division and a setting sun. The composition is made from simple forms in a bright palette of azure, watermelon pink, and deep yellow.

The Swiss artist gives power to colour and form in this watercolour. He paints uncomplicated yet evocative forms in monochromatic yet rich colours with quiet precision. He asks us to engage in a sublime moment of solitude and find tranquillity in his sunset seascape.

Hansaem Kim, The New Matter (2023). Acrylic paint, gold leaf, pigment print, resin. 55 x 42 x 4 cm. Courtesy the artist and ThisWeekendRoom, Seoul.

Hansaem Kim‘s The New Matter (2023) at ThisWeekendRoom

Hansaem Kim creates unique three-dimensional paintings that are fantastical and bizarre.

Painting characters and symbols inspired by the colourful imagery from religious mythology, cartoons, and video games, the Korean artist is interested in bringing his interpretations of fictional characters into the physical world.

In The New Matter (2023), Hansaem depicts a dragon, a cherub, and lion heads in gold leaf. His mythical characters protrude from the painting’s lustrous surface. A shrine-like opening frames a skeleton standing among flames in a dark sky of stars, with three red hearts lining the painting’s bottom.

There is no clear narrative to Hansaem’s artworks. His fantastical characters introduce us to a mysterious world where reality and imagination converge, and kitsch and decadence unite.

It is an intriguing mixture of imagery that calls back to the artist’s curiosity for digital graphics and his childhood memories of playing video games.

Yves Scherer, Sunny Day in New York (2023). Stainless steel. 150 x 35 x 42 cm. Courtesy Peres Projects, Berlin.

Yves Scherer‘s Sunny Day in New York (2023) at Peres Projects

Swiss artist Yves Scherer makes sculpture, installation, and mixed-media works that focus on visual culture in the contemporary world.

Sunny Day in New York (2023) bears resemblance to the Statue of Liberty in New York. The sculpture has the same distinctive blue-green colour as the famous landmark and stands in a similar pose, her toes poking out beneath her robe just like Lady Liberty.

Instead of a crown, Scherer’s figure has a small gold fairy sitting on her head. Her hands appear to have worn away, and her face is angled downward—in contrast to the real statue whose face looks out into the far distance.

By reimaging one of the most recognisable landmarks in the world, Scherer draws attention to the shifting nature of our perception of time, place, and people. The work is no doubt inspired by the artist’s experience of living and working in New York.

Noh Sangho, THE GREAT CHAPBOOK 3 (2023). Oil on canvas. 117 x 91 cm. Courtesy Arario Gallery, Cheonan/Seoul/Shanghai.

Noh Sangho‘s THE GREAT CHAPBOOK 3 (2023) at Arario Gallery

Comprising a myriad of imagery, Noh Sangho’s elaborate oil paintings introduce characters and scenes from anime, cartoons, film, sci-fi, and horror novels.

The Seoul-born artist’s paintings are a sensory overload for the eyes. It’s impossible to fully absorb the flood of imagery being conveyed.

In THE GREAT CHAPBOOK 3 (2023), Noh’s characters appear to be a part of a puzzle from a children’s book. Tove Jansson’s Moomin reads a book beside a trio of cheerleaders, while the Ōtori-Sama from Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away (2003) are sighted enjoying a bath.

With some unfamiliar characters and snippets of eerie imagery such as fires erupting and children holding guns, Noh’s painting feels like an adult ‘Where’s Wally?’ (1987–ongoing).

Marc Chagall, Le peintre à la Tour Eiffel (1965–1970). Oil on masonite. 33 x 24 cm. Courtesy Galerie Thomas, Munich.

Marc Chagall‘s Le peintre à la Tour Eiffel (1965–1970) at Galerie Thomas

Marc Chagall is remembered for his imaginative oeuvre steeped in dreamlike imagery and rich colours.

The Belorussian-born French painter moved to Paris in 1910 and quickly became intoxicated by the vibrancy of the city. He was exhilarated by the local architecture and began painting scenes along the banks of the Seine and of course, the Eiffel Tower.

Le peintre à la Tour Eiffel (1965–1970) is one of several paintings Chagall made that features the iconic historical landmark. In the artist’s typical sapphire blue palette, the painting demonstrates Chagall’s gift for envisioning a fantastical realm.

The composition centres around a red-haired portrait poking out of the Eiffel Tower, while a blue animal frames the lower half of the painting, the bustle of Parisian nightlife resting on its back. Chagall’s intense juxtapositions of colour and symbolic imagery serve to represent the world through his eyes.

Brian Rochefort, Paint Can 4 (2022). Ceramic, glaze, glass fragments. 30.5 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm. Courtesy Patricia Low Contemporary, Gstaad/Venice.

Brian Rochefort‘s Paint Can 4 (2022) at Patricia Low Contemporary

An eruption of form and colour coalesce in the veneers of Brian Rochefort’s sculptures.

The Los Angeles-based artist is interested in encapsulating a sense of fluidity in his practice. Primarily working with ceramics and glaze, Rochefort sculpts clay to create bumpy and grooved vessels.

Paint Can 4 (2022) oozes globules of ceramic in fleshy, warm hues. The cracked-glazed surface creates intriguing textural patterns which makes for a highly tactile work.

Likened to a volcano, Rochefort’s sculpture erupts bubbly drips, craggy facets, and deep grooves. The work appears as though it was once alive, only to be fossilised and suspended in time by kiln firing.

Yi Youjin, Koi in between (2023). Oil, oil pastel on canvas. 50 x 70 cm. Courtesy Wooson Gallery, Daegu.

Yi Youjin‘s Koi in between (2023) at Wooson Gallery

Yi Youjin’s enigmatic paintings depict landscapes occupied by humans, animals, and objects. Imbued with a sense of mystery, the Gangneung-born artist’s fragmented narratives serve as metaphors for unconscious imaginings and ideas.

Koi in between (2023) presents a figure standing over a river with a koi fish swimming between their legs. The incline of ridged red terrain invites our eyes to the centre of the canvas, as does the bright blue pool of water that envelopes Yi’s subjects.

Submerged in earthy shades of red and green with segments of bright colour, Yi’s painting emerges like a flash of a memory or a glimpse of a dream.

ADVISORY ASSISTANCE

OCULA ADVISOR Simon Fisher

OCULA ADVISOR Eva Fuchs

OCULA ADVISOR Rory Mitchell

OCULA ADVISOR Christopher Taylor