Korean resort Paradise City unveils new art space with museum-worthy collection

When the American business Steve Wynn was looking to open his eponymous Las Vegas resort in 2005, the casino magnate had intended to name the $2.4bn hotel La Rêve after a Picasso portrait he owned at the time. A prolific art collector, Wynn has long adorned his properties with European masterpieces and contemporary giants from his private collection. A roll of the roulette dice in front of a multimillion-dollar Manet may once have seemed an oddity, but extravagant art displays have since become the dernier cri of gambling joints.
So to Korea, where Paradise City is the latest entertainment resort to unveil a dedicated new art space, boasting a collection befitting of a museum. Take Jeff Koons’ sculpture Gazing Ball (Farnese Hercules) and Damien Hirst’s Aurous Cyanide painting, which both reside at the entrance where works from the permanent collection will be displayed. Upstairs, monumental installations by Korean artists Lee Bae and Kim Hodeuk dominate the first and second floor galleries.
All of Sudden Drawing the Space, 2018, by Kim Hodeuk
Both installations consider the allure of the colour black, explored through traditional materials of charcoal and ink. Lee Bae’s Issu de feu (2018) comprises hundreds of charcoal pieces on Korean hanji paper bound together like tree trunks. Similarly, Kim Hodeuk’s delves into darkness with All of Sudden, Drawing the Space (2018) where a series of hanji papers suspended above mirror inky liquid seemingly converges on itself. The shadows cast by the installation on the surrounding white walls are a decided part of the work.
The inaugural exhibition ‘Overstated & Understated’ has been curated by fashion designer and director Jung Kuho. Further works by blue-chip names including Ugo Rondinone, Robert Indiana, Subodh Gupta, Anish Kapoor, and Yayoi Kusama are installed throughout Paradise City. The 330,000 sq m resort is a 1.3 trillion won ($1.14 billion) joint venture between Korean casino operator Paradise Group and Japanese entertainment company Sega Sammy. The art space is part of the next phase of the development, which also includes the luxury boutique hotel Art Paradiso and concept spa Cimer.
Issu du feu, 2018, by Lee Bae, charcoal with rubber bands
Ray, 2012, by Subodh Gupta, stainless steel and stainless-steel utensils
Aurous Cyanide, by Damien Hirst
‘Proust’ chair, by Alessandro Mendini
Dog Days Are Over, 1998, by Ugo Rondinone, neon, acrylic glass, translucent foil, aluminium
INFORMATION
For more information, visit the Paradise City website
ADDRESS
Paradise City
186 Yeongjonghaeannam-ro 321beon-gil
Jung-gu
Incheon
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
-
William Kentridge's fluid sculptures are a vivid addition to the Yorkshire landscape
William Kentridge has opened the first major exhibition to focus on his sculptures outside of South Africa at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
-
David Cronenberg’s ‘The Shrouds’ is the film for our post-truth digital age
The film director draws on his own experience of grief for this techno conspiracy thriller
-
Cambridge Audio's new earbuds offer premium performance without denting your pocket
The Cambridge Audio Melomania A100 earbuds demonstrate just how far affordable audio tech has come in the last decade
-
Marlene Dumas’ charged, exposed and intimate figures gather in Athens
The artist’s work from 1992 until the present day goes on show at Athens’ Museum of Cycladic Art (until 2 November)
-
Mystic, feminine and erotic: the power of Penny Slinger’s bodies as landscape
Artist Penny Slinger continues her exploration of the sacred, surreal feminine in a Santa Monica exhibition, ‘Meeting at the Horizon’
-
What is recycling good for, asks Mika Rottenberg at Hauser & Wirth Menorca
US-based artist Mika Rottenberg rethinks the possibilities of rubbish in a colourful exhibition, spanning films, drawings and eerily anthropomorphic lamps
-
Get lost in Megan Rooney’s abstract, emotional paintings
The artist finds worlds in yellow and blue at Thaddaeus Ropac London
-
Kaari Upson’s unsettling, grotesque and seductive world in Denmark
The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is staging the first comprehensive survey of late artist Kaari Upson’s work
-
London calling! Artists celebrate the city at Saatchi Yates
London has long been an inspiration for both superstar artists and newer talent. Saatchi Yates gathers some of the best
-
Inside the brilliant and short career of Paul Thek: 'The goal was to live a creative existence as a maker – and he lived in a saint-like fashion'
Paul Thek's paintings are now viewable at Thomas Dane Gallery in London, in an exhibition curated by Kenny Schacter and Jonathan Anderson.
-
Lubaina Himid and Magda Stawarska’s new show at Kettle’s Yard will uncover the missing narratives in everyday life stories
The artists and partners in life are collaborating on an immersive takeover of Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, in an exhibition that delves into a lost literary legacy