When Mr. Seunghue Lee moved into his new home in Seoul, he knew the bare walls staring back at him needed populating. He bought a painting by renowned Korean painter Kim Tschang-Yeul. Recurrence (1993) features hyperrealistic water drops overlaid on densely printed Chinese characters.
“I looked up the artist after liking the image of the work I’d seen and found out that he was one of the first to travel to Paris from Korea, and ended up living in France,” Lee told Artsy. “The cultural blend in the painting reflected how the artist lived his life, which felt like a perfect match.”
Seven years after buying his first painting, Lee has built a collection of nearly 200 works spanning Korean modernism, post-war abstraction, and contemporary art from across the globe. Its first public exhibition, currently on view by appointment in Seoul’s stylish Samcheong-ro district, arrives at a revealing moment.
Lee’s taste is still evolving; his ambitions remain deliberately open-ended. Titled “What the Surface Remembers,” the show is a snapshot of a collector learning how to connect instinct, scholarship, and cultural identity, featuring works by Philip Guston, Lee Bul, Rashid Johnson, Kelly Akashi, and others.
How Seunghue Lee caught the collecting bug
Lee, who works in finance, wakes up each morning to a Sean Scully painting in his bedroom. In his living room hang works by George Condo, Lee Ufan, and Florian Krewer: works that inspire him in this place he spends most of his time.
Lee’s interest in art began after visits to the Vatican and the Louvre during a university backpacking trip, but his initial acquisitions were driven by feeling. “I never thought about the context of where a work might fit into a collection, because I never thought that I would be a collector,” he said.
His collection is now too large to fit into his private residence. “I have two kids, aged three and one, and it’s important that my family can enjoy the work we have at home,” he said of selecting pieces for his home. “I’d love to open up my home one day, but with young children it can be chaotic, which is why we’re showing at an exhibition venue.”
Today, his buying approach is characterized by rigorous research into an artist’s life, provenance, and materials. Lee engages with artists over years: studying their careers and observing their practice during studio visits.
“Art is like wine,” he noted. “Learning the basics gets you interested in it, but as you go deeper, it gets more complex and fascinating.”
He’s learned that collecting is not a solitary pursuit. Leaning on other collectors, galleries, artists, and museum patrons has taught him far more than he could have learned on his own. Now, with a global network of industry peers, he’s sharpened his eye.
Toyin Ojih Odutola, for instance, is one such artist whom Lee hopes to engage with more deeply. Her nearly 3-meter triptych Time, Energy, Resources (2024–25) provides a statement introduction to his exhibition: Visitors must circle the freestanding work to experience the scale of the artist’s commentary on power and human agency. “I fell in love with her work because it captures all these fictional characters as portraits, and I feel there are some Asian aspects in her work, too,” Lee said.
Leiko Ikemura is another whom Lee has met with several times during travels and studio visits. Her patinated bronze sculpture Usagi Girl (2002/23) is one of four pieces Lee owns by the Berlin-based Japanese artist. The hybrid rabbit-human figure, with a hollow bell-shaped “skirt” for a body, suggests a sanctuary of incubation that feels almost maternal. “I’m mesmerized by the quasi-abstract, figurative work and how it captures a sense of spirituality across her paintings and sculptures.”
Building a borderless collection
In Lee’s hallway sits Olga de Amaral’s multimedia sculpture, Aqua Plata (2012), “silver water.” As the natural light changes throughout the day, crisp blue tones give way to metallic reflections, revealing the work anew.
Lee has come to expect similar changes in his own sensibilities. “I thought I knew what my taste in art was, but that was completely shattered as I grew and learned more,” he reflected. “Now, I have more of an appreciation for things I previously may not have.”
His collection initially gravitated towards artists who represented Korea on the world stage, from traditional ink paintings to the Dansaekhwa movement led by Park Seo-Bo in the 1970s.
“I wanted to put Korean artists in context with what’s happening elsewhere around the world,” he said. His collection often pairs Korean and international artists working in similar periods: Works by Ed Clark, David Hammons, and Huguette Caland sit alongside their Korean contemporaries.
Lee sees his collection as bridging geographies and facilitating an international exchange between works. “Korean art can be found all over the world, not just in Korea,” he said. “Today, it’s really hard to tie artists of any nationality to just one location, and it's important that my collection reflects that.”
One of his latest acquisitions encapsulates how much Lee’s taste has evolved. Following an encounter with artist Ryan Gander in Seoul, he bought I’ve felt everything I'm going to feel - The Unspeakable World (2026), a small sculpture featuring an animatronic mouse. “I love that it’s subtle and unexpected and introduces a layer of wit, but also reflection for the viewer,” he said of the work’s placement in the exhibition among historical paintings by the likes of Clark and Philip Guston.
This marks the first time the public will encounter the breadth of Lee’s collection, from large-scale tapestries by Otobong Nkanga to Mark Bradford mixed-media works. But he sees the show less as a culmination than an early milestone.
“This exhibition has allowed me to take stock of my collection so far, connect the dots between the works, and get clear on what I want to do in future,” he said. “I know this isn’t going to be perfect because I’ve never done it before, but this is not the end of my collection. I just want to share where I’ve gotten to so far.”
He remains deliberately undecided about what form the collection might eventually take. “What I like most about collecting is that you never know what’s coming next,” he said. “What I do know is that this is something I will do for the rest of my life.”
from Artsy News https://ift.tt/UzGjsrQ
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