Now In Korea
Two Abstract Worlds Meet Again After 51 Years
Creatrip Team
a month ago
A two-artist exhibition “The Language of Abstraction, The Universe of Sensibility” at Pace Gallery in Hannam-dong, Seoul reunites works by Korean modern master Kim Whanki (1913–1974) and American abstract painter Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974). The show presents 16 paintings from the 1960s–70s across two floors: Kim’s New York-period abstractions (late 1960s–early 1970s) on the second floor and Gottlieb’s 1960s–70s works on the third. Kim first noticed Gottlieb at the 1963 São Paulo Biennale (상파울루 비엔날레), where Gottlieb won the top prize; inspired, Kim left a professorship at Hongik University (홍익대) and moved to New York to engage with the New York School, including exchanges with Mark Rothko. There Kim removed recognizable motifs and developed point-, line-, and plane-based abstractions, culminating in his 1970 “full-surface dot paintings” (전면 점화) that express cycles of time and life—examples like 9-I-70 #140 and an untitled 1971 work are shown. Gottlieb’s canvases feature intuitive forms and bold color fields, including his “Imaginary Landscape” and “Burst” series that condense opposing concepts—sun and earth, order and chaos—into striking symbols. The exhibition runs through January 10 of next year.
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