GalleryGrimson
RHO Gallery has been instrumental in shaping and advancing Korea’s art scene and market. Since opening with its inaugural exhibition, “Twentieth Century Korean People Through the Arts,” the gallery has hosted over 150 exhibitions that have made a lasting impact on Korea’s artistic landscape. The gallery features works by leading modern and contemporary Korean artists, including Gwansik Byeon, Sangbeom Lee, Sugeun Park, Jungseop Lee, Whanki Kim, Sangbong Do, Jiho Oh, Seobo Park, Gangso Lee, Waljong Lee, Taeho Kim, Manyeong Han, Seokju Lee, Chigyun Oh, Byungrock Yoon, and Youngwook Choi. Alongside these established masters, RHO Gallery is also dedicated to discovering and supporting emerging talents like Pixel Kim, Itt_eun, and Bang & Lee.
Byungrock Yoon, Autumn’s Fragrance RA 202336, 2023, Oil on Korean-paper, 63.6 × 70.2 cm
Yoon departs from traditional still-life perspectives by adopting a ‘bird’s-eye view’. This allows the apples to appear as if they’re spilling beyond the canvas—creating rhythm, movement, and a sense of expansiveness. His signature surfaces, made by layering thick Hanji (traditional Korean paper) over birch wood panels, give his painting tactiles depth and dimensional presence, extending the artwork into the surrounding space and engaging the viewer like an installation.
More than a repeated motif, his apples explore the fluid boundaries between sensation, material, and spatial awareness. “I wanted to show that even an ‘imperfect’ composition can still become a painting,” he explains—challenging visual conventions and infusing familiar forms with new vitality.
Youngwook Choi, Karma 2024 9-3 2024, Mixed media on canvas, 92 × 100 cm
In Korean, these cracks are known as Bingyeol. Choi sees them not as damage, but as natural traces formed by daily use—silent records of a vessel’s place in someone’s life. Just as the color and pattern of each crack vary depending on its environment, Choi believes that every human life, too, bears its own distinctive texture and story.
His working process demands deep patience and meditative focus. He applies dozens of layers of white stone powder onto canvas, sanding and refining them repeatedly. Then, with deliberate care, he hand-draws each line of crazing—layer by layer—like etching the passage of time. “Karma,” Choi says, “is held in the lines. And those lines are the journey of life.”
His signature series, Karma, visually explores the Eastern worldview of cyclical time and causality—a philosophy has deeply rooted in both Korean and Indian traditions. His works transcend the frame, becoming meditative spaces for introspection and quiet healing.