Daensaekhwa figurehead Lee Ufan is presenting his solo exhibition Lee Ufan: Quiet Resonance at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. Marking his first solo presentation in Sydney, the exhibition covers Lee’s artistic and experimental journey over the past sixty years of his practice. Specifically for the exhibition at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the artist has designed the exhibition space himself in addition to creating the eight new paintings and sculptures.

Lee’s sparing use of materials, including stone, steel, and canvas, has a quiet force that encourages contemplation of the physical and intellectual self in relation to the work or the object. The power of emptiness embodied in Lee’s works generate both harmony and tension between objects and people, based on his approach embracing Zen Buddhism and Confucianism alongside the ideas of classical and modern European philosophers. For him, the space around objects is as significant as the objects themselves; his conceptual and minimalist approach has been influential in design and philosophy beyond visual art. 

In this exhibition Lee presents four new paintings in addition to four new sculptures of the Relatum series, which he began in 1968. Also presented is the wall painting Drawing – open space (2024) inspired by his time in Sydney, as well as the stone installation work, Relatum – stone family (2024), located on the grass lawn outside the gallery.

Lee Ufan has previously exhibited his works at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as a participant in the 1976 Biennale of Sydney. Almost fifty years since, Lee Ufan: Quiet Resonance reflects on the history of the virtuoso through works representing his famed practice. The exhibition runs through September 7.

[Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales website]
 

Koo Bohnchang, a pioneer of Korean photography who has been reinterpreting traditional Korean aesthetics through a contemporary lens, has been named the recipient of the 2025 Samsung Ho-Am Prize for the Arts. 

The Samsung Ho-Am Prize for the Arts is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the advancement of culture and the arts through creative work and research. In addition to the Arts Prize, the Samsung Ho-Am Prize include awards in Science, Engineering, Medicine, and Community Service. Each year, six laureates are selected across these fields in recognition of their achievements. The recipients are chosen through a rigorous review process, which includes local field evaluations and the deliberation of a 46-member selection committee comprised of leading experts from Korea and abroad, including Nobel laureates, as well as a 63-member advisory board composed entirely of global scholars.

Notably, Koo is the first photographer to receive the Arts Prize since the award’s inception in 1993. The Ho-Am Foundation stated that Koo “has been at the forefront of contemporary Korean photography, blending refined artistry with bold experimentation (…) and has helped expand the boundaries of photographic expression in Korea.” It also highlighted that his acclaimed series such as Vessel and Mask “enhances the global visibility and stature of Korean contemporary art.”

Koo joins a distinguished list of past Arts Prize recipients, including Nam June Paik (1995), Lee Ufan (2001), Kimsooja (2015), Do Ho Suh (2017), and Lee Bul (2019). The 2025 Samsung Ho-Am Prize award ceremony will be held on Friday, May 30, 2025.

Korakrit Arunanondchai's solo exhibition Sing Dance Cry Breathe | as their world collides on to the screen is on view at The Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara (MACAN) in Jakarta, Indonesia. Marking the artist's inaugural major solo exhibition in Indonesia, the exhibition brings forth our conflicting desires for renewal and the fear of letting go by evoking a fire that exists within our collective mind.

Arunanondchai has been connecting personal experience with social commentary and exploring a wide range of themes. Presenting works produced between 2018 to the present, the exhibition highlights symbols associated with myths of creation and regeneration across cultures. Often focusing on the process of recreation, he delves into themes such as the simultaneity of decay and rebirth, and the desire for higher power. The exhibition is conceived as a theatre featuring non-human beings, who perform through light, sound, architecture, and images.

As witnessed in The Dance of Earthly Delights (2024), the phoenix is one of many prominent motifs in the exhibition. In the work, two phoenixes are arranged as if dancing on either side of the screen above a garden alongside the mytheme of the Bearing Turtle and a great serpent. The artist emphasizes the symbolism of birds and snakes in creation mythologies around the world, using them as a metaphor for the relationship humans build between social structures and the natural world. Blurring the boundaries between human and spiritual beings, his work utilizes symbolic imagery and the human figure to deepen collective narratives. It serves to deconstruct existing narrative structures and critique those no longer sufficient for understanding the present.

Arunanondchai’s work combines animism and science fiction, based on the fear that comes from loss, the unknown, and uncertainty, prioritizing human emotion and embracing complexity without definite answers. The artist describes the exhibition as one concerning “human emotions transferred into the natural world, mediums and objects,” inviting the viewers to “sing, dance, cry,” and relive the emotions projected by themselves onto the screen. Sing Dance Cry Breathe | as their world collides on to the screen runs through April 6, 2025.

Haegue Yang presents Haegue Yang: Leap Year, her first large-scale survey exhibition in the Netherlands, at the Kunsthal Rotterdam. Following its initial presentation at the Hayward Gallery in London in October 2024, this touring exhibition provides a comprehensive overview of Yang’s artistic journey spanning over three decades. Yang consistently engages the senses and dismantles well-established dichotomies through her innovative use of everyday materials and industrial objects.

Over seventy artworks—including installations, sculptures, video, text, and audio—are presented in a newly arranged layout specifically designed for the architectural space of Kunsthal Rotterdam, designed by the renowned architect Rem Koolhaas. The exhibition is organized thematically, featuring key themes central to Yang’s practice such as the ‘Social,’ ‘Political,’ ‘Spiritual Quotidian,’ ‘Quasi-Performativity,’ and ‘Singular-Plural,’ encouraging audiences to organically explore based on their intuition and association.

Featured prominently are new works including Sonic Arch Rope – Gold Hexagon Light (2024) and Sonic Droplets in Gradation – Water Veil (2024). Also presented in the exhibition is a large commission work titled Star-Crossed Rendezvous after Yun (2024), inspired by contemporary Korean composer and political dissident Isang Yun’s life and music, which garnered significant attention in London. A particularly impactful work is Storage Piece (2004), a sculptural installation produced during Yang’s early career ridden with realistic challenges with moving, during which she stored many of the works she could not keep into large installations by the same name. This piece resonates deeply with the socio-economic narratives confronting migrant artists worldwide and maintains its relevance and potency even twenty years after its initial exhibition.

After Kunsthal Rotterdam, the exhibition will travel to Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst in Zurich from September 27, 2025 to January 10, 2026. The exhibition in Kunsthal Rotterdam continues through August 31, 2025.

Swiss contemporary artist Ugo Rondinone’s solo exhibition the rainbow body is currently on view at the Aspen Art Museum in Colorado, USA. This exhibition is Rondinone’s first major institutional show in the American West. Rondinone’s practice, spanning over three decades, has covered a wide range of media including photography, painting, poetry, outdoor sculpture, and neon rainbow signage, often exploring motifs of nature and human life. 

the rainbow body covers the multivalent significance of the rainbow, the title referencing a spiritual rite in Tibetan Buddhism in which the body is transformed into five rays of light upon death. This exhibition presents thirteen fluorescent, life-size wax casts of dancers in the gallery titled nude (rainbow) (2021), as well as several bronze candles, appearing melted to various heights, titled still.life. (2013), capturing moments of impermanence in more enduring material. 

Rondinone’s works incorporate recurrent motifs of the natural and primordial world such as rocks, clouds, and the sun, as well as language and systems of communication such as lyrics or slogans, exploring human subjectivity and experience. Highlighting the meditative contemplations and expansive practice of Ugo Rondinone, the rainbow body continues through March 30. 

Ha Chong-Hyun, a key figure in Dansaekhwa movement and pioneer of Korean avant-garde art, presents early works in his solo exhibition Ha Chong-Hyun 5975 at Art Sonje Center in Seoul. This exhibition explores the evolution of his pictorial language in interaction with the socio-historical context of post-war Korea.

The title “5975” refers to the years 1959, when Ha graduated from Hongik University, and 1975, when he began experimenting with his iconic Conjunction series. Dividing this period into four phases chronologically and thematically, the exhibition traces the trajectory of his experimental visual language. The first section presents Ha’s early works influenced by the Informel movement, reflecting the chaos, anxiety, and desolation in the post-war Korea. Notably, the artist reinterpreted Informel by exploring the potential of various materials and expanding the boundaries of painting. The second section showcases works from the late 1960s, a period marked by rapid urbanization and economic growth, during which Ha experimented with geometric abstraction and the fusion of tradition and modernity. Among the works in this section, the Naissance series demonstrates how Ha translated traditional elements such as dancheong patterns, colors, and mat-weaving techniques into contemporary visual language. The third section examines Ha’s experimental endeavors through his involvement with the Korean Avant-Garde Association (AG). This section reveals his use of everyday objects found in the aftermath of the war, such as barbed wire, newspapers, tissue paper, plaster, and springs, into his paintings, symbolizing the social oppression of his time. Finally, the fourth section highlights the beginnings of his Conjunction series, in which he experimented with his trademark process known as bae-ap-bub.

Ha Chong-Hyun’s early works are characterized by an experimental attitude, pushing the limits of paint and refusing to settle into any single approach. His has continued his practice in disappearing traditions, reflections on rapid societal changes, use of everyday materials, and an exploration of materiality that seeks to transcend the flat surface of the canvas. This spirit of experimentation runs through his early work and remains a crucial aspect of his artistic practice to this day. The exhibition continues until April 20.

Koo Bohnchang, a pioneer of Korean contemporary photography, presents Koo Bohnchang: The Look of Things at the National Asian Culture Center (ACC) in Gwangju, Korea. The exhibition marks the inaugural exhibition of the ACC Focus series, organized by the ACC to present solo exhibitions of Asian contemporary artists who have redefined the framework of culture and art. Koo Bohnchang: The Look of Things delves into Koo’s key works centered on objects, exploring both larger and smaller narratives surrounding these objects while highlighting Korean, and more broadly, Asian sentiments embedded in his works.

The exhibition is divided into three parts. Part 1, “Breathing Life into Historical Objects with History” presents Koo’s works that reinterpret national treasures and artifacts from the Korean War through videos and installations. One notable series, Vessel, is composed of photographs capturing white porcelain that has been smuggled out of Korea. They are presented as hanging scrolls suspended from the ceiling, evoking the dramatic imagery of the porcelain's spirit returning to its homeland. Another well-known series, Gold, is displayed using lightboxes placed horizontally on the floor, recalling the glory of the Silla gold crowns before they were excavated and turned into historic artifacts.

The second part of the exhibition, “Discovering Trivial Objects in Everyday Life” presents photograph series capturing quotidian found objects. The works capture the inherent temporality of various objects: the artist’s possessions in the Collections series; a device of French architecture from the 15th century in Chasse-Roue; empty boxes and spaces in the Interiors and the Object; bars of soap in the Soap. Among other works, Koo’s film work Korea Fantasy (2017) will be also displayed for the first time. Capturing the colors and patterns of Dancheong, traditional Korean decorative wood coloring, in a dynamic motion, the work reflects the artist's broad interest in tradition and cultural heritage.

Finally, the third part, “Encountering the Gaze of Koo Bohnchang” showcases the artist’s personal collection of objects as well as collaborative works with mass media, along with archival materials that offer insight into the exhibition’s theme and Koo’s practice. Additionally, portraits of various artists, taken by Koo over many years, highlight his distinct vision across multiple disciplines.

Koo Bohnchang’s works capture the unique stories of objects over time in a manner reminiscent of portrait photography. Blending traditional Korean aesthetics with Koo’s unique perspective, the exhibition runs through March 30.