In celebrating the reopening of the two gallery spaces BK Itaewon and BK Hannam, Gallery BK presents The Hidden Masterpiece, a large-scale group exhibition of established and senior Korean artists who, over the years, have shaped Korea’s art scene and influenced its direction. The show runs from January 20 to February 24, 2022, in all exhibition halls of both the Itaewon and Hannam galleries.

Nourished by the ancient philosophy of yin-yang and five elements, the aesthetics of traditional Korean art and color theory yielded the fruit of the ten traditional colors: the five cardinal colors (obangjeongsaek) and the five secondary colors (obanggansaek). Upheld by the classical system of dividing colors into yin or yang or integrating them harmoniously, the traditional aesthetics eventually reached a stage where the colors would come to life and would glide freely on the canvas on their own. Here, the 14 masters have filled each of their canvases with what is both a parade of colors and an abstinence of colors, both representationalism and abstractionism, and both a calligraphic brushstroke and a painterly mark. Each artist’s oeuvre, constructed by his unique studio practice and formal language, presents his research of the human condition and his ruminations and reflections upon life and livingness.

The curved line flowing out from the tip of the brush is akin to the contour of the Joseon white porcelain, objects of simplified, minimal beauty accumulating the innumerable time and experience of countless potters and painters. Similarly, the works of art encountered here steer away from merely reinterpreting the past via a contemporary visual language or creating such pictorial records and aspire to show the ideal of restrained beauty. The brilliant colors serenading the white wall, the powerful brushstrokes that stretch beyond one wall and into another, and the white porcelains levitating in between them — the scene adequately stages the aesthetic cyclicism and sophistication put forth by the 14 masters.

Color, in fact, is a form on its own. Even when a brushstroke is not the part of a discernable depiction of an object, the stroke itself and the surface area created by it can form a peripheral shape and emit measureless energy on their own. Met with the medium of color, the bodily gesture of moving across the canvas explodes upon the background as if it had collided into the exact color, and the image, made of a single surface and a series of independent brushstrokes, rises up like a crowd, transcends the canvas and engages the viewers, urging them to project their inner self onto the painting and whereby allowing them a moment of autonomous reading.

Each of the 14 artists presented in this show has persevered a long, consistent career with a unique set of philosophy, values, and studio practice. By unveiling and reevaluating their undisclosed works, Gallery BK wishes to introduce a new facet to what defines a “masterpiece collection.”

Gathering the maestros of contemporary Korean art on one occasion, The Hidden Masterpiece was extensively prepared to present a cognitional space that melds the past and present of each invited artist and materializes contemporaneousness in a way that encourages visitors to examine it. Also, Gallery BK hopes to further expand the significance of this show by allowing viewers to dive into the infinite depths presented by each master’s enduring integrity.

Min Choi, Director, Gallery BK