CreatripTeam

Kim Whanki (1913–1974) traveled to the 1963 São Paulo Biennale with three works and won an honorary painting prize—the first international award for a Korean artist. There he admired Adolph Gottlieb (1903–74), a leading figure of the New York School of Abstract Expressionism, whose bold circular motifs and calligraphic brushstrokes resonated with Kim. After the Biennale Kim stayed in New York rather than returning to Seoul, restarting his career from the ground up: living cheaply, sharing studios, and later receiving Rockefeller Foundation support to open a Manhattan workspace. In the 1960s and early 1970s his canvases grew larger and more abstract, moving from moon and plum blossom motifs to full-field paintings of dots and crosses that gained attention in the U.S. This joint exhibition, “The Language of Abstraction, the Universe of Feeling: Adolph Gottlieb and Kim Whanki,” opens at Seoul’s Pace Gallery with 16 works from the 1960s–70s, highlighting parallels and contrasts between the two artists’ visual languages. The show runs through January 10 and is free. (Kim Whanki Foundation; New York School; São Paulo Biennale)