National tensions were high in the weeks leading up to Art Busan (2–5 June 2017). Three days before the opening of the fair in the South Korean port city, an article in the Korea Joongang Daily announced that due to an ongoing diplomatic feud between Seoul and Beijing over a United States antimissile system, fewer Chinese galleries would participate at this year's edition. (The prediction was correct: the number dropped to three Chinese galleries as compared to fifteen last year.) Across the Korean Demilitarized Zone, yet another sinister nuclear test by Kim Jong-un added to the uncertainty in Seoul, but down south in Busan, the atmosphere was considerably more relaxed. With a population of approximately 3.6 million, long sandy beaches and dense commercial districts, Busan is the second largest city in the country—billed as both the 'San Francisco of South Korea' and the cultural and economic centre of the region. Each year, the trading port on the southeastern tip of the Korean Peninsula plays host to the Busan International Film Festival (one of the most popular film festivals in Asia), while the Busan Biennale—curated last year by Yun Cheagab, director of HOW Art Museum in Shanghai—is a major fixture on the cultural calendar. While many of Busan's museums are attached to the city's universities, the Busan Museum of Art is in the affluent neighbourhood of Haeundae, directly across from the fair at Busan Exhibition and Conference Centre.
Art Busan was launched in 2012 for the explicit purpose of branding the city as a hub for art and culture, positioning the city's attractive scenery as a draw for international collectors. With 170 galleries from 16 countries participating, this year's edition of the fair was extremely painting-heavy, with a great deal of colourful, fantasy-inspired and decorative works dominating the galleries' showings. Imagery of Marilyn Monroe were seen in five separate booths, apparent evidence that celebrity and flash is still an easy sell. Luxury was also a running theme, with marble sculptures of designer handbags on view at Busan-based Gallery Ara's booth. Yet among the innumerable overtly commercial offerings were select treasures, including Kiseok Kim's triptych Flat Space (2017) presented by Korean gallery Lynn Fine Art, which used cement, acrylic and conte to depict a scene of twisted figures. Equally as painterly, Seoul-based artist Hyein Lee's small oil paintings of daily life were presented at Gallery Kiche's booth. Having worked and exhibited in New York and Belin, Lee is known for her impressionistic works which incorporate landscapes in her memory with those she observes while wandering cities like plein-air painters of yesteryear. Sungpil Yoon's futuristic twisted aluminum sculptures at Seoul's Space O'Newwall were similarly reminiscent of early 20th century strategies.
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