Gallery Simon Gallery in Seoul

Editorial Profile

Gallery Simon is an established contemporary art gallery in Seoul, founded in 1994 and located in Jongno, an area closely connected to the city’s historic center and its institutional art infrastructure. Its program is oriented toward Korean and international contemporary art, with a particular emphasis on artists whose practices have developed through sustained exhibition histories rather than short-term visibility. Within contemporary art in Seoul, the gallery occupies a measured position: not experimental in the sense of temporary or artist-run formats, but attentive to how painting, sculpture, photography, installation, and media-based practices can be framed through focused solo and group exhibitions. Recent programming, including presentations such as Bae Hyung-Kyung’s What Still Remains, Ku Ja-Young’s Round and Round, Airan Kang’s The Contemplation of Books, The Empathy of Light, and group projects such as Where Voices Rest and Rise, points to a curatorial interest in material reflection, image structures, light, language, and perceptual experience.

Its role among galleries in Seoul is shaped by continuity. Rather than operating through rapid expansion or spectacle, Gallery Simon has built a long-running platform for artists including Noh Sang-Kyoon, Hong Seung-Hye, Joohyun Kim, Shin Il Kim, Changwon Lee, and others associated with its exhibition history. This gives the gallery a specific relevance within Seoul’s contemporary art ecosystem, where long-term commercial galleries coexist with museums, foundations, and newer project spaces. Its international dimension is present through its stated engagement with both Korean and international contemporary tendencies, while its strongest identity remains rooted in Seoul: a gallery that contributes to the city’s artistic infrastructure by maintaining a stable, intergenerational program.