Art Fair Daegu 2026 presents a series of special exhibitions exploring the diverse currents and expanded languages of contemporary art. Spanning painting, sculpture, printmaking, lacquer, and objects, the exhibitions bring together experimental artistic perspectives and formative expressions that reflect both the present moment and the passage of time. From focused presentations of individual artists to thematic exhibitions examining space, materiality, and perception, each section offers a distinct experience that broadens the ways audiences engage with contemporary art.

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HIGHLIGHT

“Highlight Special Booth” is a special section featuring artists recognized for their distinctive practices within the flow of contemporary art. Designed as a focused presentation for each artist, the section offers visitors a more in-depth experience of their individual artistic worlds.

For the 2026 edition, five artists selected by Art Fair Daegu — Beth Shapeero, Misuk Kim, Wonyong Kim, Jaepil Moon, and Hongjik Shin — participate with works spanning painting, printmaking, lacquer, and sculpture. Through different media and material experiments, the artists explore themes of perception, memory, nature, and materiality while developing their own distinctive visual languages.

This section highlights the individual rhythms and spatial flow created by each artist’s works, presenting the expanded possibilities and layered sensibilities of contemporary art through an immersive viewing experience.

Participating Artists  : 

S02 Misuk Kim 김미숙

S05 Wonyong Kim 김원용

S08 Jaepil Moon 문재필

S03 Hongjik Shin 신홍직

S04 Beth Shapeero 베스 쉐피로

Misuk Kim 김미숙

Misuk Kim is a contemporary Korean artist who expands the traditional medium of lacquer into a language of painting, exploring the layered relationship between emotion and time. Lacquer is a slow material that requires repeated cycles of coating, drying, and polishing, and through this process the surface gradually accumulates multiple layers of time. Kim uses this material temporality as a way to reflect how human emotions are formed—through memory, experience, and the passage of time. Her paintings often feature quiet human figures that appear less as portraits and more as emotional presences shaped by lived experience. The subtle luminosity created by mother-of-pearl and gold leaf introduces shifting reflections of light, allowing the works to reveal different atmospheres depending on the viewer’s perspective. At the intersection of traditional material and contemporary sensibility, Kim Misook’s paintings evoke both the vulnerability and beauty of human existence, presenting painting as a space where emotion slowly emerges through time.

Wonyong Kim 김원용

I tear, and from this action something is created. Through a number of events and memories in our lives we experience conflicts and agitation. These moments of conflict and hesitation became parts of my life, as fragments of memory, thereby letting me be who I am. The moments of hurt, delight, joy, and sorrow are gone, left only as an afterimage of memory, but from time to time they awaken within the reality of my life. The ‘Moment’ series came from the process of tearing wrapping papers from presents. These are moments of curiosity and desire that come from the act of tearing, whilst in tearing up paper or photos we might also find moments full of a determination to forget what’s gone by. They share a concern with new beginnings that come from the action of tearing rather than being completed with a period. The images of faces in ‘Moment’ were inspired from scribbles on A4 paper or photo prints, as fragmented pieces of memory.  Like paper torn, crumpled up and thrown away, we hesitate between things remembered and things forgotten and thrown away. In the moment of tearing things, we forget what’s gone by, and have dreams of new beginnings, and of what comes later.

Jaepil Moon 문재필

Jaepil Moon is a contemporary lacquer sculptor who works with natural lacquer harvested from lacquer trees. His practice explores the relationship between the laws of nature and modern civilization, seeking to bridge the gap between the organic world and human culture. By respecting the inherent qualities and unpredictable character of lacquer, he engages in a sensitive dialogue with the material, allowing its depth, luminosity, and subtle nuances to guide the creative process. Moon draws inspiration from themes such as the Earth, the sea, life, natural order, reincarnation, liberation, and wisdom. Through his sculptural works, he reflects on the harmony between heaven and earth, exploring the balance between natural forces and human intervention. His practice offers a contemplative perspective on humanity’s place within nature, presenting both a philosophical meditation and a poetic interpretation of life in the context of contemporary civilization.

문재필은 옻나무에서 채취한 천연 옻칠을 재료로 작업하는 옻칠 조형작가이다. 그는 자연의 이치와 현대 문명 사이의 관계를 사유하며 그 속에서 작품 창작의 영감을 얻는다. 자연에서 얻은 재료가 지닌 고유한 성질과 아름다움을 존중하며, 이를 통해 자연과 문명 사이의 간극을 좁히고자 하는 감정을 작품에 담아낸다. 옻칠은 겉으로는 오묘하고 신비로운 빛을 지니지만 매우 까다롭고 변덕스러운 성질을 지닌 재료이다. 문재필은 이러한 재료의 특성을 깊이 이해하고 섬세하게 다루며 자신만의 조형 세계를 구축해 나가고 있다. 그는 지구, 바다, 생명, 순리, 윤회, 해탈, 지혜 등의 주제를 통해 자연의 질서와 조화를 탐구하며, 현대 문명 속에서 인간이 어떻게 살아가야 하는지에 대한 사유와 메시지를 작품에 담고 있다.

Hongjik Shin 신홍직

Hongjik Shin builds a painterly language based on the sensations and impressions he gains from the landscapes of nature and the city. His works imbue the canvas with both vitality and tension through thick layers of paint, vivid colors, and bold strokes applied with his hands and a palette knife. This approach goes beyond mere representation, visually revealing fleeting emotions and inner movements. The materiality and rhythmic traces that accumulate on the surface are directly connected to the artist’s physical engagement, allowing viewers to experience the work sensorially. Such practices constitute an exploration of the essential freedom of painting and a formal experiment where sensation and contemplation intersect. Shin Hongjik’s paintings strike a balance between expression and impulse, forming a distinctive aesthetic realm.

신홍직 작가는 자연과 도시의 풍경 속에서 얻은 감각과 인상을 바탕으로 회화적 언어를 구축한다. 그의 작품은 두터운 물감과 강렬한 색채, 그리고 손과 나이프를 활용한 거친 터치를 통해 화면에 생동감과 긴장감을 동시에 부여한다. 이는 단순한 대상의 재현을 넘어 순간의 감정과 내면의 움직임을 시각적으로 드러내는 방식이다. 화면 위에 쌓이는 물질성과 리듬감 있는 흔적들은 작가의 신체성과 직결되며, 관객에게 직접적인 감각의 전달을 유도한다. 이러한 작업은 회화의 본질적 자유를 탐색하는 과정이자, 감각과 사유가 결합된 조형적 실험으로 이어진다. 신홍직의 회화는 표현과 충동 사이에서 균형을 이루며 독자적인 미적 영역을 형성한다.

Beth Shapeero 베스 쉐피로

Beth Shapeero (b. 1985, Nottingham) is a painter and printmaker based in Glasgow, Scotland. Her practice explores sensation, memory, and the body through abstraction, working across painting and printmaking to emphasise process, materiality, and scale. She is one half of the collaborative duo Two-Step with Fraser Taylor, expanding printmaking into large-scale installations. She is also co-director of ShapeeroMurray, an artist-led gallery supporting artists in a fragile arts economy. In 2026, she presents a solo exhibition at The Vanner Gallery (Salisbury), is an installation artist at the Affordable Art Fair Vienna, and an invited artist at Art Fair Daegu, South Korea. Recent presentations include Art Madrid and Glasgow Print Studio, alongside group exhibitions at Sister Contemporary (Kent) and the Royal Scottish Academy (Edinburgh) with Two-Step. In 2027, Two-Step will present a major solo exhibition at Edinburgh Printmakers through an ongoing residency. Recent work includes a featured installation at the Battersea Autumn Affordable Art Fair, where she created a large-scale painterly intervention at the fair entrance. Her exhibitions include Scribbling/Scrabbling (2024), Playing Up (2023), To Stand in the Full Sun (2022), and Turned the Wrong Way (2022), alongside international presentations in Europe and the UK.

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SCULPTURE EXHIBITION

The Breath of Space

: 공간의 숨결

This exhibition brings together works by 20 artists from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, exploring the materiality and spatial sensibilities inherent in contemporary sculpture. Constructed through diverse materials and sculptural languages, the works create new flows and rhythms within the space, engaging the viewer’s perception and experience. Through the relationships formed between artwork, space, and audience, the exhibition proposes the dynamic sensory possibilities that sculpture can generate.

한국·일본·대만 작가 20인의 작업을 통해 조각이 지닌 물질성과 공간적 감각을 조망하는 전시다. 서로 다른 재료와 조형 언어로 구축된 작품들은 공간 속에 새로운 흐름과 리듬을 형성하며, 관람자의 감각과 경험을 환기한다. 이번 전시는 작품과 공간, 그리고 관람자 사이에서 생성되는 관계를 통해 조각이 만들어내는 생동하는 감각의 가능성을 제안한다.

Participating Artists  : 

Bongsoo Kim 김봉수 / Byungkyu Kim 김병규 / Jaeho Kim 김재호 / Taein Kim 김태인 / Kyungwook Min 민경욱 / Eunhee Min 민은희 / Geunwoo Park 박근우 / Sinhae Park 박신애 / Kichul Lee 이기철 / Sangheon Lee 이상헌 / Yongjin Im 임용진 / Hoyoung Im 임호영 / Seungae Choi 최승애 / Jonghyuk Hong 홍종혁 / Lin En Cheng / Wang Biao / Hitoshi Tanaka / Tamae Watanabe / Takashi Yukawa / Shigeru Hirata

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BLUE-CHIP EXHIBITION

Traces of Time

: 시대의 흔적

This blue-chip special exhibition examines formative languages and material traces spanning from the 20th century to the present. Through painting, sculpture, and objects, it explores the relationship between material and gesture, trace and time, while also reflecting on how art has represented each era and offered new perspectives across time.

Participating Artists  : 

Kangyong Kim 김강용 / Moon Shin 문신 / Namjune Paik 백남준 / Yongseon Seo 서용선 / Myeongkyu Jang 장명규 / Hyunglim Jeon 전혁림 / 키미킴 / Pablo Picasso / Jim Dine / César / Antoni Tàpies / Joan Miró 등