Towards the Antipodes

Seundja Rhee, the only female artist of her generation to spearhead Korean abstract art alongside Kim Whanki and Yoo, emigrated to France in 1951. There, she spent more than half of her life creating works that integrate the East Asian theory of yin and yang and the five elements that make up the universe (Eumyangohaeng) with Western painting sensibilities.

With the support of the Seundja Rhee Foundation and Gallery Hyundai, the Korean Research Institute of Contemporary Art (KoRICA) will present "Seundja Rhee: Towards the Antipodes" at Spazio ArteNova in Venice’s Castello area. Curated by the former National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA) director Bartomeu Mari, the exhibition will showcase nearly 20 paintings by Seundja Rhee (1918–2009) from 1959 though to 2008.