Thaddaeus Ropac Presents Lee Kang So's First New York Solo Show in Over 20 Years
On June 4, 2026, Thaddaeus Ropac gallery announced a solo exhibition of South Korean artist Lee Kang So, his first in New York in more than two decades. The show features 30 works spanning his career from radical experimentalist to celebrated painter. Highlights include seven large-scale canvases from recent decades in black, white, and gray, some with figurative traces such as deer heads or floating ducks. The most recent painting, 'The Wind Blows-26047' (2026), evokes calligraphic marks caught in a storm. The exhibition also includes ceramics made by dropping clay, photographs from 1977 depicting sand earthworks along a river in Daegu, and an early video from 1977 in which the artist paints over himself until he disappears.
The Signal
Lee Kang So, a major figure in Korean art rarely shown in New York, presents a cohesive survey of his evolving practice with 'A Field of Becoming.' The exhibition underscores his philosophical engagement with impermanence and entropy—a defining theme across mediums. For collectors, this is a rare opportunity to assess the full arc of a mature artist whose work bridges experimental performance, photography, ceramics, and assured painterly abstraction. The show also strengthens Thaddaeus Ropac's commitment to bringing historically significant Asian artists to its New York space.
- Artists: Lee Kang So
- Galleries: Thaddaeus Ropac
- Locations: New York
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