The tiger character Duffy and the protagonist Lumi from K-Pop Demon Hunters. President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea cited the tiger ‘Duffy’ and the Grim Reaper as the most striking characters. Tigers once thrived across the Korean Peninsula, but indiscriminate hunting led by the Japanese during the colonial era drove them to extinction in Korea. (Image courtesy of Netflix)
SEOUL, Jan. 14 (Korea Bizwire) — If your eye is drawn to the sly humor of Korean folk painting—or if you recently found yourself charmed by Derpy the Tiger in Netflix’s animated feature KPop Demon Hunters—Gallery Hyundai’s latest exhibitions offer a timely and rewarding encounter with the tradition that helped inspire both.
This week, Gallery Hyundai opened two concurrent exhibitions in Samcheong-dong, in central Seoul, presenting a sweeping view of Korean painting from the Joseon era to contemporary reinterpretations. The main space hosts “Magnificence and Creativity: Variations in Korean Folk Painting,” while the gallery’s newer building features “The Way of Painting.”
A “Ten Symbols of Longevity” painting, undated, is seen in this image provided by Gallery Hyundai on Jan. 14, 2026.
The first exhibition brings together 27 large-scale court and folk paintings from the Joseon Dynasty, many rarely shown and all of museum caliber. Seen together, they reveal a visual culture that prized both grandeur and wit, symbolism and play.
Among the standouts is Two Dragons and Pearl, a monumental 19th-century court painting measuring more than four meters wide. Two sinuous dragons circle a luminous pearl, a composition meant to ward off evil while affirming royal authority and legitimacy. Nearby, Ten Symbols of Longevity assembles familiar motifs—mountains, clouds, cranes, pine trees—into a dense visual prayer for long life and prosperity.
A “Tiger Skin” painting from the 19th century is seen in this image provided by Gallery Hyundai on Jan. 14, 2026.
Folk painting, or minhwa, takes center stage on the second floor of the main building. Less bound by courtly conventions, these works lean toward exaggeration, humor and narrative freedom. Magpie and Tiger, with its grinning, slightly foolish tiger and sharp-eyed bird, stands out as a reminder that satire and warmth were central to the genre—qualities that continue to resonate with contemporary audiences.
Another work, Bird, Flower and Figure, depicts women in hanbok with whimsical, almost caricature-like features. The painting’s gentle irreverence offers a glimpse into the everyday imagination of ordinary people, far from the strict hierarchies of court art.
A folk painting is on display at Gallery Hyundai in Seoul on Jan. 14, 2026, in this image provided by the gallery.
Across the street, the gallery’s newer building shifts the focus to the present. “The Way of Painting” features 75 works by six contemporary artists who engage directly with traditional Korean aesthetics while reworking them for modern sensibilities. Among them is Kim Ji-pyeong, a finalist for the 2025 Korean Artist Prize, whose work bridges classical brushwork and contemporary abstraction.
Bak Bang-young’s paintings are particularly striking for their embrace of the uninhibited spirit of late-Joseon minhwa. His compositions retain the genre’s humor and boldness, translating its informal energy into a contemporary visual language.
A painting by Bak Bang-young is seen in this image provided by Gallery Hyundai on Jan. 14, 2026.
Together, the two exhibitions mark the 10th anniversary of Gallery Hyundai’s landmark 2016 show on court and folk painting at the Seoul Arts Center. More than a retrospective, the pairing underscores how deeply these traditions continue to inform Korea’s visual culture.
“Magnificence and Creativity: Variations in Korean Folk Painting” and “The Way of Painting” run through Feb. 28.
Image credit: Gallery Hyundai, Yonhap / photonews@koreabizwire.com
