CARTAGENA (MURCIA), 18 (EUROPA PRESS)

‘La Mar de Arte’, the section of the ‘La Mar de Músicas’ festival in Cartagena, organized by the City Council, offers contemporary art starting this Friday with exhibitions by Jong Oh and Timothy Hyunsoo Lee, two artists from the invited Asian country to this 30th edition of the event.

Both exhibitions, which were inaugurated by the mayor, Noelia Arroyo, can be visited for free until September 28, as reported by municipal sources.

Artist Jong Oh has arrived in Cartagena, accompanied by the Director General of Culture and current festival director, Eugenio González; the Councilor for Culture, Ignacio Jáudenes; former ‘La Mar de Músicas’ director, José Luis Cegarra; Jong Oh’s gallerist, Sabrina Amrani; and T20 gallery’s representative, Nacho Ruiz.

The mayor explained that «the two exhibitions installed in the Consistorial Palace remind us that art has the ability to open deep dialogues, to build bridges between cultures, and to touch us in the most intimate way,» and highlighted that these are some of the objectives of ‘La Mar de Músicas’, making Cartagena a meeting place to discover different music from around the world.

Additionally, Arroyo pointed out that the Consistorial Palace continues to establish itself as an exhibition space, «hosting proposals that could be in any of the great contemporary art spaces in our country or in Europe.»

BETWEEN BODIES AND BORDERS

This exhibition represents a retrospective that spans over a decade of Lee’s deeply personal and materially rich artistic practice.

From his early explorations of the psychological landscape to his recent investigations into Korean folklore, diaspora, queer identity, and intergenerational memory; the works gathered in this exhibition trace the evolution of an artist who is both a cartographer and a witness: a chronicler of the complexities of belonging and surviving.

Lee, a Korean-American artist with a background in neuroscience and art, has sought from the beginning to represent the invisible: anxiety, migration, trauma, and queer identity. His practice blends the empirical with the poetic, the spiritual with the corporeal. Through pattern and metaphor, the unspeakable becomes visible: mental illness takes on fractal form; diaspora is a wandering ghost; the queer body becomes simultaneously masked and revealed.

‘SYLVER RYTHM’

‘Silver Rythm’ is an exhibition that brings together works by Korean artist Jong Oh, whose ethereal sculptures and minimalist drawings offer a silent yet powerful reflection on how we perceive space, form, and absence.

The artist’s work, naturally subtle, is often so delicate that it could go unnoticed at first glance. Using humble materials such as hand-painted rope, thin rods, fine threads, and transparent plexiglass sheets, he creates three-dimensional compositions that float gently in space, almost like whispers. These pieces do not seek to impose themselves; rather, they invite us to pause, change perspective, and discover their presence gradually, as the light shifts or as we move through the room.

Born in 1981 in Mauritania, and raised between the Canary Islands and South Korea, Oh brings a global sensibility to his art, shaped by diverse influences but deeply rooted in a minimalist language. His work resonates with the subtle intensity of Korean aesthetics and the perceptual games of American postminimalism, while remaining profoundly personal and intuitive.

«The two artists exhibiting at the Consistorial Palace invite us to rethink our world,» emphasized Sabrina Amran. «Through his exhibition, Jong Oh shows that there are other perspectives, not everything we see is what it seems,» she added.

In this vein, T20 gallery’s representative, Nacho Ruiz, pointed out that both exhibitions will go down in history at the ‘La Mar de Músicas’ festival, which is starting its 30th edition to offer the largest cultural influx of Korea ever made in Spain.

The exhibitions can be visited from Tuesday to Friday, from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 17:00 to 19:00; on Saturdays, from 10:00 to 13:30 and from 17:00 to 20:00; and on Sundays and holidays, from 10:00 to 13:30, closed in the afternoon.