Int’l art collective presents works of 190 artists
The fourth group exhibition of The Hechyeomoyeo, an art collective of Korean and foreign residents, as well as artists located around the world, kicked off last Friday evening at East Atelier Gallery in downtown Seoul, with over 190 artists participating. The exhibition features paintings, photography, digital art, drawings, sculpture, ceramics and films, and will feature events, including live painting, drawing parties, artist talks, art markets, live music, workshops and other activities at the gallery over three weeks, from Feb. 2 to 25.
The Hechyeomoyeo art collective started last year with 10 Korean and foreign artists and grew quickly from there as it attracted more participants, from professionals to beginners.
Its initiator and coordinator, Neil Wheelock Deforest Smith, an American artist who came to Korea as a teacher a couple of years ago, told The Korea Times that he and one of his artist friends came up with the idea to create a space that could bridge the gap between Korean and foreign artists in Seoul.
“The idea that I observed was like there are foreigner spaces, and there are Korean spaces. I thought that, well, we should make one that kind of bridges the two together,” he said.
“The name Hechyeomoyeo comes from the army. They say ‘Hechyeomoyeo’ when everybody is disorganized and scattered. And then when they say that, it’s like a command, it’s like a verb. Everybody comes together, lines up, gets in order. We have all these scatters of artists on the individual level but also on the community level. The Korean artists are over here, the photographers are over here. The idea for Hechyeomoyeo was you get all of them together.”
This time, their exhibition has attracted over 190 Korea-based visual and digital artists, including foreign residents from countries such as Thailand, Mexico, Italy, India, Indonesia, France, Japan, the United States, Malaysia and the Netherlands. About 20 Thai artists sent their artworks for this exhibition alone.
Smith said, “It seems like people are taking more interest in it. It’s only because there’s a need for it. I’m responding to the need more than imposing some sort of vision. We don’t make a lot of money. We’re like a self-supporting community. Anyone can buy the art, and 100 percent of the money goes to the artist — we don’t take any commission.”
Bona Kim, owner of East Atelier Gallery, which is hosting the exhibition, has a background as a visual artist working with ceramic sculptures. “I think we need more international artists to engage with young Korean artists because we need to mingle and grow up together,” she said.
East Atelier Gallery also hosted the collective’s third exhibition last year.
Peter Leon, an American painter and photographer who has lived for 15 years in Korea, is taking part in the group exhibition for the third time.
“It’s great coming here and having the chance to work with different people, learn from everybody and have different kinds of interactions with people,” he said.
Moroccan artist Soukaina El Hayany has been part of a multicultural family in Korea after moving here five years ago. “I felt like this place was amazing. This place gave me hope that it’s OK to be who I want to be and show whatever art I want,” she said.
The gallery is open from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Sunday or by appointment. The closing party will be on Feb. 25 from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Follow @thehechyeomoyeo or @eastatelier_gallery on Instagram for more information.