Tatler | Start+ Art

Pop goes my heart: Tatler meets South Korean star Kang Hui 

 

" He’s exhibited alongside the K-pop stars in Seoul and, now, in London too. Tatler meets Kang Hui, a South Korean actor, model, artist and It Boy who is fleetingly in Chelsea for the StART art fair.
 

South Korea has become a global cultural superpower – first, there was Parasite that was the first ever foreign language film to pick up Best Picture at 2020’s Academy Awards. Then, BTS, the K-pop favourites, scooped a No 1 debut single in the US last year – a record for an international band.

 

So, it would seem the world is going mad for the art of South Korea. Therefore, lucky us Brits, that some of that art has come to Blighty this week as part of StART art fair. The works of Kang Seung Yoon (known as Yooyeon), Onhim (known as Mino) and Henry Lau have been erected in the Saatchi Gallery this week. Yooyeon and Mino – their art names – are both straddling artistic disciplines, as musicians of uber successful K-pop band Winner by day and artists by night. Yooyeon as a photographer; Mino as a fine artist. Henry Lau, with his 8.3 million Instagram followers, is also tackling the artistic medium of paint.

 

While the K-pop stars haven’t made it to London – a contemporary, Kang Hui, has. Photographed before the Sloane Square tube sign and under the infamous Saatchi Gallery columns, the actor, artist and model has landed in Chelsea – what he describes as a ‘luxurious neighbourhood’ – and he has been perusing the gallery beyond the Duke of York Square (before he returns to Seoul, imminently). Kang Hui, 29, exhibited alongside the K-pop stars at the Korean Eye, Seoul in June ahead of this week’s exhibition at the Saatchi – where his enigmatic, bright works (pictured below) are illuminating the gallery walls.

 

StART Art Fair is at the Saatchi Gallery, London, 13-17 October. StART+, featuring the K-pop works, runs 20 October to 10 November at The ARX, Knightsbridge. startartfair.com

 

 

 

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November 2, 2021