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Presented at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) from September 11, 2022 to February 20, 2023, The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art explored the development of modern art in Korea driven by artists’ encounters with, and reinterpretations of, the foreign influences that came along to shape it. Covering the years 1897 to 1965, the exhibition spanned the arc of European-influenced art via Japan in the Korean Empire (1897–1910) and colonial period (1910–45), explored American influences absorbed and experimented with during and after the Korean War (1950–53), and provided a glimpse into the beginning of the contemporary. The first exhibition of its kind in the West, The Space Between featured over 130 artworks by 88 artists that reflect the incorporation of foreign-introduced new media, including oils, photography, and sculpture.Curated by Dr. Virginia Moon, associate curator of Korean Art, The Space Between is the second in a series of exhibitions as part of The Hyundai Project: Korean Art Scholarship Initiative, a global exploration of traditional and contemporary Korean art through research, publications, and exhibitions. Curated by Dr. Virginia Moon, associate curator of Korean Art, The Space Between is the second in a series of exhibitions as part of The Hyundai Project: Korean Art Scholarship Initiative, a global exploration of traditional and contemporary Korean art through research, publications, and exhibitions.

From gold robes to laboratory flasks to smashed glass, the artists across The Space Between: The Modern in Korean Art provide a glimpse into the path from Modern toward Contemporary Korea. Writer Scarlet Cheng interviews exhibition curator Dr. Virginia Moon, and reviews the exhibition through selections of oil paintings, works on paper, photographs, and sculptures.

A survey of the progression of Korean modern art due to, and in spite of, foreign influence.