The Intertwined Paths of Korean and Japanese Art

In the modern era, the paths of Japanese and Korean art have at times been intertwined, at others run parallel. Both flourished in the aftermath of WWII and the Korean War, responded to the influence of art informel and other Western trends, and developed adjacent movements such as the Japanese mono-ha (school of things) and Korean dansaekhwa (monochrome painting), whose specific approaches stood apart from those of their Euro-American contemporaries.  

Art practices in Japan and Korea have necessarily – and sometimes self-consciously – addressed Western influences, global trends and local concerns. With 22 Japan-based galleries across all sections, the fourth edition of Frieze Seoul reflects Korea’s and Japan’s art histories and future directions. 

Installation view of ‘Korea: Five Artist, Five Hinsek “White”,’ 1975, at Tokyo Gallery. Courtesy: Tokyo Gallery+BTAP, Tokyo

Participating in Frieze Masters, Tokyo Gallery + BTAP first became involved with Korean art more than 70 years before the launch of Frieze Seoul. Established in 1950, Tokyo Gallery has played a formidable role in the development of both Japanese and Korean contemporary art history. It organized solo exhibitions of gutai painter Kazuo Shiraga in 1962, neo-dada artists Ushio Shinohara and Jiro Takamatsu in 1966, and the group exhibition ‘Tricks and Visions: Stolen Eyes’, which arguably spawned the mono-ha movement, in 1968. By the 1970s, the gallery had turned its attention to Korea and, in 1975, in a pioneering move, it presented the first exhibition featuring the landmark monochrome painting movement dansaekhwa with ‘Five Hinsek “White”: 5 Korean Artists’ before the label ‘dansaekhwa’ existed. 

Kishio Suga, Separated Accumulations, 1989, acrylic, wood, 40 × 36.5 × 10 cm. Courtesy: Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, Tokyo 

Tokyo Gallery owner Hozu Yamamoto’s views on the shifts in the Japanese and Korean art scenes of the last 50 years are unsurprisingly panoramic. ‘In the 1960s and 1970s,’ he explains, ‘there was virtually no market for [avant-garde] art. When there was no market, artists had to cooperate to rent gallery spaces and have group shows, which fostered communication and feedback between artists. Today, with thriving markets, art fairs and solo exhibitions have become the norm, and feedback is received through sales. The market has become the strongest influence on the work.’ He also suggests that, within the contemporary market, distinctions based on nationality become blurred as they are superseded by broader cultural trends, such as pop or anime. This year, the gallery will present works by dansaekhwa artists Park Seo-Bo and Suh Seung-Won as well as mono-ha artists Lee Ufan, Kishio Suga and Koji Enokura.

Misako and Jeffrey Rosen, 2025. Photograph: Mie Morimoto

Looking to the more recent past, Tokyo gallery Misako & Rosen cofounder Jeffrey Rosen fondly remembers the inaugural edition of Frieze Seoul in 2022. ‘The fair closed on a Monday amid a raging typhoon, and yet it was packed,’ he says. ‘The level of enthusiasm was infectious.’ Rosen, whose gallery this year will showcase the works of three painters – Richard Aldrich, Trevor Shimizu and Margaret Lee – and the multimedia ironist Ken Kagami, says that, with some notable exceptions, both the Korean and Japanese art worlds seem currently to ‘favour aesthetic over explicitly political conversations’. The greatest commonality between the two scenes, he notes, is the healthy growth of ‘art-forward spaces and artist-run galleries, such as Shower and Primary Practice in Seoul, and XYZcollective, 4649 and Galerie Tenko Presents in Tokyo.’ The growth of these spaces, which are responding to the blue-chip Western gallery model, could be important not only culturally and economically, but socio-politically.

Richard Aldrich, Untitled, 2017/2023–2024. Courtesy: Misako & Rosen, Tokyo

In commercial terms, Rosen notes, the ‘Korean market for blue-chip work seems to have grown exponentially larger than in Japan’, while ‘the market for lower-priced emerging art is also significantly larger in Korea’. Perhaps this is unsurprising as the GDP from the cultural sector in Korea has nearly doubled in the last two decades and the number of art galleries in the country grew by more than 40 percent between 2015 and 2024. Tokyo Gallery owner Yamamoto laments the difference in support that the Japanese and Korean art scenes enjoy: ‘Korea has a strong cultural policy,’ he says. ‘Japan doesn’t. Many Japanese leaders in the private and public sectors here think that art should be provided free of charge.’ 

Yuko Mohri, Decomposition, 2025. Courtesy: Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo

Established in Minato, Tokyo, in 2015, Yutaka Kikutake Gallery aims to underscore the social contribution of contemporary art practices. Director Yutaka Kikutake echoes Yamamoto in noting that contemporary works in both Japan and Korea reflect global trends. He feels, however, that Japanese and Korean artists also betray influences of ‘Asian, or perhaps even Buddhist, thought, resulting in a balance of sensibility and reason which differs from those of Western artists’. 

Kikutake thinks that the increase in young collectors is also significant in both the Japanese and Korean markets. ‘The art scene is reaching a broader audience,’ he says. While both markets are growing, the speed at which they are moving is drastically different: ‘If Korea is running at 120 kmph,’ he says, ‘Japan is moving at about 40 kmph.’ The Japanese market also faces infrastructural issues. ‘Many Japanese galleries and other organizations have raised this,’ he says, ‘but the current tax system in Japan is slowing things down. I’m hopeful, however, that recommendations from the private sector will bring change soon.’ Kikutake’s take is optimistic, especially for the future of young artists: ‘I do see more opportunities for younger artists to exhibit,’ he says. ‘The social presence and significance of contemporary art is growing in both countries.’ 

Trevor Yeung, Two Protected Hulu, 2023. Courtesy: Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo

At Frieze Seoul, the gallery will feature the works of Tokyo-based Yuko Mohri and Hong-Kong-based Trevor Yeung, whose works have recently been shown at the Venice, Sydney and Lyon biennials. Both artists’ work deals with systems, and the relationship of human and non-human actors. Yeung’s installations, for example, often reference horticulture and fishkeeping; Mohri’s Decomposition (2021) translates changes inside rotting fruit into sound. 

The range of works represented by Japan-based galleries participating in this year’s Frieze Seoul promises a nuanced view of historical and current concerns, and productive conversations on how to negotiate the local and the global. Despite the dominant influence of market demands and globalized culture, Yamamoto suggests, ‘art fairs allow us to identify trends connected to specific regions by grouping many works together. They promote communication; communication can often matter much more than objects.’ 

Discover Japanese galleries at Frieze Seoul 2025:  A Lighthouse Called Kanata (M20), Anomaly (A37), Art Front Gallery (M03), Tokyo Gallery+BTAP (M01), CON_ Gallery (F04), Taka Ishii Gallery (A32), Kaikai Kiki Gallery (A06), Kosaku Kanechika (C14), Kana Kawanishi Gallery (F02), Kenji TakiGallery (B13), Yutaka Kikutake Gallery (C06), Tomio Koyama Gallery (C08), Maho Kubota Gallery (B11), Misa Shin Gallery (A22), Misako & Rosen (B12), Nanzuka (C12), Taro Nasu (B15), Kotaro Nukaga Gallery (M06), Parcel (F03), SCAI The Bathhouse (A26), Takuro Someya Contemporary Art (C20) and Take Ninagawa (A34).

This article first appeared in Frieze Week Seoul magazine with the title ‘Parallel Worlds’. 

Further Information 

Frieze Seoul, COEX, 3 – 6 September 2025.   

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^{Main image: Exterior view of Yutaka Kikutake Gallery, Tokyo. Photograph: Moe Machida}

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