You have a rich knowledge about art and a great passion for art collecting. Do you have an artistic background or work experience in the art field? What motivated you to start collecting art?

No, I don’ have an art background but I still remember the brushstrokes I made with watercolors during art classes in my school days and these beautiful memories led me to attend lectures on art and to begin collecting art. It’s been 6 years now that I became actively involved in art collecting and began to build my collection. If I had had an art education, my point of view, how I perceive art, might have been different than it is now. It arouses my curiosity when I discover the immature state of an artist in her/his work. This work-in-progress state in an artist’s path resembles a flow of someone’s life. I enjoy conversations with artists and their attitudes towards their works and also their life stories make me expect how it will shape their artistic paths in the future and how it will visually be transformed in their future works.

What aspect of art collecting has the biggest impact on your life?

The site-specific installation of Hito Steyerl’s “Power Plants“, 2019, which is installed in my apartment. I thought in the past that site-specific installations can be exhibited only in museums. I had a chance to experience Hito Steyerl’s work at Sculpture Projects Münster 2017 for the first time in person and I immediately fell in love with her work, but I didn’t think it’s collectable for a private collector. Two years after, as I encountered this work at Frieze London in 2019, I was not only amazed by this beautiful artwork but also by the fact that this kind of metaphysical artwork can be treated as an object and traded at an art fair, a place of commercial exchange. I believe that artworks as public goods can have significant impacts on viewers so, I decided to open my apartment to public to share this work with a wider audience.

What would be benefits of art collecting?

One of the main benefits of art collecting for me is the aspect of socializing with like-minded and meeting new people (gallerists, art collectors, artists etc). If you start to collect artworks, you will discover the need to connect and share with other collectors. Through discussions and socialization, you add to your body of knowledge and enjoy the company of like-minded individuals. It can lead you to discover your love for certain genres or artists and it also helps to develop your visual acuity, and that will positively affect your journey through life.

How did you start a book club with other art collectors?

It started with like-minded art lovers at a private art museum. Once we read a book called ‚말하는 눈(talking eyes)‘ by Noh Suntag (a photographer) and visited his studio in Namhae in the southern part of Korea, together. During the studio visit, I acquired a monochrome photograph of him which depicts an outstretched arm with the thumb pointing somewhere beyond the frame. Every time, I look at this work, I am questioning, where the world could be, the thumb in the photo is pointing to. It enriches the way I see the world.

How do you plan your art fair tours and where is your next destination?

I enjoy attending international art fairs around the world, especially when local galleries and museums in the area have excellent shows alongside during the fair week. I also love to visit art biennials such as Venice Biennale. Visiting Gallery Weekend Berlin was also a nice experience to have an insight into the program of each gallery and discover their own identity. I’m particularly looking forward to visit Neo Rauch’s current solo exhibition at Museum of Fine Arts Leipzig and I also plan to visit Art Basel Miami Beach and New York later this year.

How often do you visit artists’ studios and how do you request it? What was your most memorable studio visit?

When I discover an artist whose work piques my curiosity, I send a direct message to them on social media or I approach them through curators and gallery directors. From my experience, most of the artists love to communicate with viewers and like to explain about their works in person. The most memorable studio visit was Lee Hyeok. I encountered his work at an exhibition in Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (a state-run art museum in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea) and experienced a rare continental spirit in his works which resonated with me. I personally reached out to the artist, who was once a North Korean refugee and I could hear about his life story in person, which shaped his unique painting style. This visit enabled me to comprehend his works in-depth. And I once invited another artist to my apartment to create a mural painting. He stayed four days long to work on the mural and I also could get involved in the whole creative process. We discussed not only about art but also about politics and social issues during his stays. This commission allowed me to enjoy art in a more profound way.

How does your focus on certain genres or artist group evolve?

I don’t have any specific art genres or movements, which I am particularly interested in. I mostly intrigued by art works that awake my attention in an unconventional way or shake my prejudice. I am also very excited when I see a long time following artist’s artistic style has changed and when it results in beautiful works.

What is the artwork in your collection that has taken the longest time for you to make a decision to acquire?

As I read John Berger’s ‚Over to You: Letters Between a Father and Son’, a collection of letters that the critic John Berger exchanged with his artist son, there was a paragraph where John Berger mentions regarding William Coldstream’s painting ‚One artist’s scepticism is another one’s confidence.’. As I read this part, it reminded me of Hejum BÄ’s paintings. I confronted her paintings with ambivalent emotions, it was esthetically pleasing by its vibrant and color combinations, but at the same time its beauty confused me and made me hesitant to accept its esthetic. But the sentence ‚One artist’s scepticism is another one’s confidence.‘ by John Berger allowed me to accept my emotions towards her paintings. The artist constantly explores, creates and deconstructs shapes, forms and colors of light that reflect her inner emotions and also allow the viewer to imagine their own world of colors and shapes on the canvas. (Hejum BÄ’s painting is in the first image of this interview.)

What artwork catches your eye the most in your daily life?

I enjoy the view of Hito Steyerl’s “Power Plants“ reflected on window in the evening, when streetlights outside are flickering and the sea is darkening the background. And the mural of Choi Daejin, which is installed on the opposite side of the window and depicts war painted by 먹(Traditional Korean ink) reminds me of what is happening this moment on the other side of the globe. And Mire Lee’s sculptural installation next to the mural, which appears as a living organism, blurring boundaries between skin and inner organs made of silicon hoses and steel, brings me to questions about our existence, the temporality of bodies, and the decay of materials through time. I recently placed a painting by Jang Pa, who deals with feminism in her work, and it made this room complete.

Which artwork in your collection is currently on loan and where is it on view?

I had a joint presentation with other collectors last year where we showed a part of our collections and I was specially excited to present a ceramic work by Jinsik Yoo. The main theme the artist deals with is ‚uncertainty‘. Her ceramic figures have ambiguous shapes that make it difficult to distinguish their gender or age, and the rough surface of the ceramic objects articulates the ‚uncertainty‘ well. I would like to present my collection to a broad audience in the future, and also a pleasant part of such a showcase is the opportunity to share stories and exchange experiences during acquisitions with other collectors. And you get a different perspective on the artwork in your collection when it is placed in a different location on view. Currently, a work by Soyoun Bang in my collection is on view at Coreana Museum of Art in a group exhibition entitled ‚Synthetic Fever‘. It’s a thematic exhibition exploring the possibilities and limitations of generative AI—a rapidly evolving technology that increasingly shapes our daily lives.

Would you share your recent acquisitions?

I recently acquired a photograph by Han Youngsoo(1933–1999). He is well known for capturing moments of ordinary people in their everyday lives in Seoul since 1950 when the city began to develop rapidly after Korean War. In the work I acquired, a moment of a couple walking by Myeongdong is beautifully captured. His photographs are placed in many public collections and also featured in The New Yorker magazine recently.

Which exhibition space do you recommend to art collectors coming to Busan?

My favorite museum is MOCA - Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan. The museum organizes exhibitions and maintains a museum collection with a focus on nature, new media and human beings. Personally, I am particularly interested in media art, and that attracts me more to the program of this museum, which offers exhibitions on an international level.

Interview by Jiyoung Kim.
She is an advisor that specializes on the Asian art market.