Vision + The Visionary

The exhibitions, Vision and the Visionary, presents works by four artists including the renowned English painter Bridget Riley across old and new Hanok buildings that are part of Kookmin University’s Myung Won Museum in Northern Seoul. The show is curated by Stephanie Seungmin Kim.

On its campus in Northern Seoul, Kookmin University has a 130-year-old Hanok, which once was the house of Han Gyu-seol (1856-1930), a high-ranking official in the last years of the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910). The university recently built a new Hanok beside Han’s house and plans to use both Hanok as art spaces along with a new modern building that will soon open under the name Myung Won Museum. 

As the inaugural exhibition, “Vision & The Visionary” showcases paintings and prints by Riley, a famous pioneer of op art, or art that uses optical illusions, and three younger artists who have some common points with the 91-year-old but who use very different styles and mediums. The three are Luke Elwes who presents paintings that seem to be in between abstract art and representational art depicting the surface of water lit by sunlight; Vakki who shows abstract sculptures, and Sammy Lee generated simulation of birds’ flight (originally commissioned by Tate St Ives but adjusted for this exhibition)