Reimagine Yun Hyong-keun at PKM Gallery: Danseokhwa Guide

Located in Samcheong-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, PKM Gallery presents Reimagine Yun Hyong-keun (윤형근을 다시 상상하다), a solo exhibition illuminating the artistic legacy of Korean Danseokhwa master Yun Hyong-keun (1928–2007). Staged across both the PKM Main Building and the PKM+ Annex, this comprehensive presentation spans the artist’s seminal creative periods.

Organized to commemorate the public opening of ‘Yun Hyong-keun’s House’ in Seogyo-dong—the historic residence and studio where the artist lived and worked—the exhibition brings together approximately 30 pivotal works spanning from the 1970s through the 2000s alongside rare Seogyo-dong archival materials.

Reimagine Yun Hyong-keun Exhibition Overview

• Exhibition Title: Reimagine Yun Hyong-keun (윤형근을 다시 상상하다)
• Exhibition Period: August 26, 2026 – October 3, 2026
• Venue: PKM Gallery Main Building and PKM+ Annex (40 Samcheong-ro 7-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul)
• Opening Hours: Tuesday–Sunday 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM (Last admission: 5:30 PM)
• Regular Closures: Closed every Monday
• Admission: Free (No admission for visitors under 15 years of age)

Reimagine Yun Hyong-keun: Commemorating the Seogyo-dong House and Studio

Yun Hyong-keun is a quintessential figure of Korean monochrome painting (Danseokhwa), renowned for constructing a deeply restrained, austere visual language. In 2018, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) Seoul organized the first major retrospective for a Danseokhwa artist dedicated to his work, which subsequently traveled to the Museo Fortuny in Venice the following year during the Venice Biennale.

This PKM Gallery presentation aligns with the opening of Yun Hyong-keun’s House in Seogyo-dong, honoring the domestic space imbued with his life and artistic touch. Across all galleries of the main building and annex, visitors can chronologically trace his painterly trajectory from the early 1970s to the 2000s in a single unified setting.

Shifting Plastic Vocabularies Across Successive Decades

The first focal point of the presentation is the monumental Gate of Heaven and Earth (Cheonjimun / 天地門) series from the 1970s, which established Yun’s distinctive painterly practice. Superimposing ultramarine blue and raw umber pigments, these works evoke portals between heaven and earth, characterized by subtle bleeding effects and organic pigment absorption into raw canvas linen.

Moving into the adjacent galleries, visitors encounter all-over paintings from the 1980s alongside late works from the 1990s onward. Following his formative 1991 encounter with American minimalist master Donald Judd, Yun shifted toward pure, deep blacks and austere rectangular configurations, exhibiting an even stricter, simplified compositional tension on canvas.

Finally, the exhibition showcases works on traditional hanji (Korean mulberry paper) executed during the artist’s residency in Paris and into the 2000s. Ink and oil pigments seep naturally along the grain of the mulberry fibers, displaying an intimate sculptural language complemented by historical documents and archival treasures from the Seogyo-dong studio.

Visitor Guidelines and Important Advice Before Arrival

Admission to the exhibition is entirely free of charge. However, to maintain safety and a serene viewing atmosphere in the gallery spaces, visitors under the age of 15 are not permitted entry; please take note of this age restriction before planning your trip.

Operating hours are Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with ticket desk and gallery doors closing at 5:30 PM (30 minutes prior to closing). The gallery is closed every Monday.

Official Announcements and Complementary Exhibitions

Complete details and scheduling updates can be confirmed directly on the official PKM Gallery website.

If you are planning an art tour around Samcheong-dong, consider exploring our coverage of Park Seo-Bo: Changing Unchanging and the group presentation Becoming With at nearby galleries.