The International Contemporary Art Fair hosted art lovers with 8000 works of art by over 1600 artists from 45 countries under the roof of 152 participants in 2024. It provided unforgettable moments to its visitors with over 100 performances, workshops and workshops, 33 panels and talks, and 48 music concerts.
ArtAnkara Fair has been the most prestigious fair in Turkey since 2015, and Ankara, the capital of art, continues to increase its influence every year and offer artists and art lovers moments full of art. ArtAnkara will be holding its 11th edition this year between February 19-23, 2025, in Ato Congresium. Esther Gallery will be showcasing in B-12 hall with 40 m2 space. The participation of international galleries continues to be a strong area of interaction that shapes the future of art in order to experience the universal language of art.
We came together with Esther Gallery Art Director and artist Becci Kim (Yeonsun Kim) at this important meeting point of the art world. We have learned more about Korean art updates and Esther Gallery artists.
A Thriving Korean Art Market
The South Korean art market has seen significant growth in recent years, both a combination of domestic and international demand. As a country with a thriving gallery scene and the third highest number of private art museums in the world (behind only Germany and the US), South Korea has positioned itself as a major player in the global art market. One of the driving forces behind the success of South Korean contemporary art is the government’s active support of cultural initiatives and the arts.
Organizations like the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS) play a crucial role in promoting local artists and reinforcing the value of South Korean arts and culture. Korean artists have been gaining more recognition on the international stage, with exhibitions and collaborations taking place in major art capitals around the world.
Esther Gallery, as a successful and bright representative of Korean Art: Esther Gallery under Spotlight
Established in the eco-friendly Yangpyeong region of South Korea, Esther Gallery aims to enhance the beauty and kindness in the world through exhibitions and participation in national and international art fairs. Hosting regular solo and group exhibitions, the gallery actively participates in various national and international fairs, including Seoul Art Show, K-Art Fair, Incheon Asia Art Show, ArtAnkara, ArtContact Istanbul, and Art Festa Jeju.
Artist Spotlights:
YEONSUN KIM:
Butterflies have been considered symbols of joy, happiness, free love, and beauty in both the East and the West. In addition, butterflies have long symbolized the soul. For this reason, they are symbolized as a medium connecting the afterlife and the living world. It is also used as a symbol of wisdom. In this way, I work with butterflies with the hope that the world will continue to be beautiful and peaceful, using butterflies that have many good meanings and symbolism.
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Kwon Hee-ja
It is a magnificent and magnificent painting of a royal palace, completed with deep colors. The magnificent tiled roof shows off the grandeur of the building, and most of the characters are properly dressed in royal attire. It seems to record an important event, as it perfectly depicts all objects without any neglect. It is a noble record that can be seen at a glance even by an outsider.
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Kim Kyung-me
The ocean is the source of life, water, or the mother’s amniotic fluid, because the salt concentration and nutrition of the ocean are proportional to the mother’s amniotic fluid in the womb. Motherhood is the mother’s commitment to the safest protection and rearing of life conceived from amniotic fluid. The Mother’s Sea series contains discourses that awaken motherhood to protect the Earth and the ocean from abnormal climate or marine pollution. Through my mother’s sea work, I want to make her realize that protecting the Earth full of life is a world where my children, who are precious lives, will live safely. In order to express running and moving water most naturally, we are working on techniques to pour paint and make it flow, and we are also producing media art that shows the movement of the sea that always fluctuates.
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Bonnie(HeyKyong) Bang
When I first encountered Korean folk painting, it reminded me of Silk Dyeing, a medium I have previously worked with. The process of layering colors and waiting is the common thread between the two media. I am trying to interpret traditional Korean folk paintings from a designer perspective and capture what I see, feel and hope in my work. I hope the viewers can find peace and happiness through my paintings.
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Haekeung Park
By projecting the ecosystem of living beings in nature into the lives of human beings, who are part of nature, we recognize the essential principles of nature and examine the philosophy of life. Throughout my life, living beings that have given meaning to me by accident or necessity have been the main subjects of my artworks. For example, grass swaying in the wind, schools of young fish swarming in the water, hemp threads that have been with human history for a long time, and forests that change with the four seasons. While observing the ecology of living beings in nature, I realize that the journey of life itself with a strong vitality is very similar to the world in which people live.
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Song Young-sook
The theme of my work is, Wayansu, My habit of frequently going on rehearsals to collect landscape materials needed for my work was tied up by the unexpected global spread of the coronavirus in early 2020. In this unfortunate situation, my work naturally reminded me of the landscape of Mt. Sokri, which is in my childhood memories, and the mountains I traveled to in the past. Naturally, most of my works are decorated with works drawn from my imagination, and most of them are imaginary images that can be said to be an expression method by association, making transparent the psychological consciousness of trying to mentally overcome the dangerous reality, and became, Wayansu.
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Choi Dong-hwa (최동화)
A Korean native, Choi Dong-hwa studied pedagogy and philosophy before majoring in applied arts. Her oeuvre encompasses diverse facets of life, often featuring children with strikingly large eyes. These children, with their wide-eyed gaze, are intended to encourage viewers to transcend adult prejudices and preconceptions, offering an opportunity to perceive the world from multiple perspectives. For over three decades, Choi has dedicated herself to philosophical education for children, an experience deeply interwoven with the imagery of children in her artwork. She is captivated by their simplicity and innocence. Aspiring to remain fully present in each moment, Choi seeks to share the preciousness of the here and now—a “Carpe Diem” experience—with her audience through her art.
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Minkyung Sim
Dreaming of another world through music. ‘Cat Landscape’ purifies psychology through arts such as music and literature – the fundamental meaning of utopia is still retained through the synesthetic image expression of the pure inner world realized and gained in the process. I do not focus entirely on that world. Before the creation of the ideal world, I purify the mental impurities accumulated in reality through various arts, not just music, and dream of becoming better today than yesterday and tomorrow more than today. The artist himself and his creations This is a work that focuses on the process. The landscape that becomes one with the cat symbolizes the entire ideal world in which they dreamily reside.
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Esther Gallery aims to present the unifying power of art to art lovers with a distinguished selection by bringing together Korean and Turkish artists in 2025. Belma Bozkurt, Ayzıt Umay, Sibel Unalan and Faruk Keskin are among the valuable artists who will take part in the fair.
Belma Bozkurt: The lotus flower contains very important values about women, the woman’s subtle and elegant natural beauty, her ability to eliminate difficulties with her feminine energy, her intuitive power, emotional control, fertility, ability to be reborn, her level of awareness, her thoughtful and subtle states, her passion, purity and wisdom. I express the various emotional states of the woman in her own cycle, her ups and downs, her hope, her struggle and giving up, her self-confidence and disappointments, her joy and sadness, her love and hatred, in a naive and strong language in the light of the lotus gravitas manifesto.
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Faruk Keskin: The artist reveals a kind of attitude by focusing on the socio-political developments of his age. In addition to allegorical and critical analyses, the artist builds a world of concepts by using his mind and observations in a kind of episodic memory function. He internalizes the situations and events he encounters in his daily life within the world of these concepts and expresses them on the surface.
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Ayzıt Umay: The artist tries to describe the difficulties of being a woman in our geography. He works on his portraits. In his recent works, he was influenced by the increasingly increasing violent incidents today. He concentrated on the themes of children, fear and anxiety. Since art is shaped by social events, we hope that the coming years will be full of hope and joy.
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Sibel Ünalan: The artist’s cycle-themed works were produced with acrylic paint and mixed materials. While creating the plastic language of the subject discussed in the main studies, different considerations – as well as semantic concerns – are taken into consideration. The use of materials and collage seems indispensable. The artist’s goal in the paintings is black & Keeping the white effect in the foreground, with figures, patterns, lines.
Connect with Esther Gallery:
– Instagram: @esther_gallery2
– Website: https://esther-gallery.com/
– Address: 73, Songguteo-gil, Yangseo-myeon, Yangpyeong-gun, Gyeonggi-do, Korea
– Contact: info@esther-gallery.com
Learn more about the 10th ARTANKARA Contemporary Art Fair: https://artfairankara.com/
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