Kiaf Seoul 2022

Exhibition Background

Kiaf Seoul (Korea International Art Fair) was founded in 2002 by the Korea Galleries Association and has grown into Korea’s largest art fair, connecting the local gallery ecosystem to the international market. In 2022 it ran alongside the inaugural Frieze Seoul at COEX, creating a joint week that drew global collectors and museum professionals and underscored Seoul’s emergence as an Asian hub for contemporary art and market dialogue.

Guiyoung Lee presented her “Space of Thought” series at Gallery Yeh’s booth, bringing together Korean landscapes and impressions from abroad. Her layered spatial divisions and color fields invited Kiaf’s international audience to experience how local memory and global travel intertwine on canvas.

Artwork Notes

Left | Space of Thought — Painting the Landscape (Acrylic on canvas, 112×194 cm, 2022)
For the artist, a “space for thought” is a private refuge where she resets her eye and emotions. She overlays dawn impressions from the Taebaek mountain range stretching from Hangyeryeong down toward Busan with the brisk morning air she felt on New York’s Brooklyn Bridge. The fused memories create a contemplative landscape where flowing water and cool light invite viewers to pause.

Right | Space of Thought — Drawing Space (Acrylic on canvas, 228×182 cm, 2022)
The composition splits into two fields: Korean nature occupies one side, while vistas from a trip to Washington, D.C. fill the other. At the center is Gwanghwamun—her everyday route and long-running motif. By anchoring those distant scenes with her everyday Gwanghwamun route, Lee maps how daily Seoul life expands through travel and returns home transformed, allowing three places to breathe within a single frame.