GROUP EXHIBITION: THE WAY OF PAINTING

HYUNDAI GALLERY opens the new year with The Way of Painting (14 Samcheong-ro), which presents works by contemporary artists who build their practices on the inherited codes of traditional Korean painting.

January 14 - February 28, 2026

At the same time, the exhibition Magnificence and Creativity: Variations in Korean Folk Painting at the Hyundai Gallery (8 Samcheong-ro) examines the aesthetic values ​​of court painting and folk painting of the Joseon Dynasty. Together, the two exhibitions move beyond viewing Korean traditional painting solely as a practice bound to its historical moment. Instead, they reconsider these traditions through a contemporary lens, while also highlighting how today’s artists expand, transform, and reconfigure inherited pictorial languages into independent artistic worlds.

The Way of Painting, is a survey of contemporary artists who reorient the forms, spirit, and aesthetics of Korean traditional painting inherited through centuries of practices. The artists participating in this exhibition are Kim Nam-Kyoung, Kim Jipyeong, Bak Bangyoung, Seongmin Ahn, Doowon Lee, and Jae Jung.

These traditions, beyond recalling styles of the past, operate in the present tense amongst contemporary perspectives and perceptive frameworks. They are re-enlivened through ongoing practices in painting, constantly expanded and redefined through senses of the now. The title refers to the Korean phrase “Hwa-i-do (畫以道)” which translates to “taking painting as one’s path".

This presentation highlights junctures where lineages of painting in the past and present are reassembled and amplified into contemporary lexicons. In the hands of these artists, the inherited codes of Korean traditional painting, painting as “paths,” find expression in each of their unique sensibilities and language.