JaeMyung Noh, a 33 year old education entrepreneur, began collecting in his high school years (he was educated in USA) and since he got married to pianist SoHyun Park in 2018 in South Korea, their shared collection has expanded, which is now comprised of around 300 artworks (except edition works), with a focus on figurative works of paintings and sculptures by emerging and mid-career artists including David Altmejd, Megan Rooney, Patrick Eugene, Simon Fujiwara, Zandile Tshabalala, Stanislava Kovalcikova, Julien Ceccaldi, Austin Lee, Manuel Solano, and Mimosa Echard. Most of them are in their 20s – 40s and Noh also collects enthusiastically young and emerging Korean artists such as Nam Kim, Jiwon Choi, Xian Kim, Hyun Nahm, SeungEun Song and Yaerim Ryu.

To share their understanding of contemporary art, which focused on emerging artists, they decided in the recent year to open their collection to the public and found an exhibition space (viewing room) in a three-story building in the district of Shinchon, one of the dynamic districts in Seoul surrounded by universities.

The collection’s storage space is situated on the first floor of the building and a viewing room is on the second floor. This place is for exchanging passion for art and ideas with art people from all around the globe and a guided private tour was offered as a part of the VIP program during FRIEZE Seoul last year. Also, they host many groups from place to place; from museum/gallery directors to collectors from all over the world.

The collector couple travels around the world regularly to visit art fairs, galleries and museums and to meet collector friends. They find their passion as patrons in developing emerging artists and supporting and following their careers. The artworks enrich their lives and change their view of the world, which they are willing to pass on to their daughter.

Would you please share your recent acquisitions?

The most recent acquisition is a collage/mixed media work by Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze (b. 1982 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria; lives and works in Philadelphia). I have been following the artist for a while and finally met the right work at the right time for my collection. Ruby is a young, talented artist, but she has already been shown at great galleries/institutions and been collected by important parties, including the Studio Museum of Harlem, Brooklyn, USA and the National Museum of African Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC, USA.

You recently launched your own art fair in Seoul, which was held in Seoul last Spring. Would you tell us about it?

The inaugural edition of the art fair ‚Art OnO‘ 2024 welcomed about 40 galleries from 15 countries, including Galerie Chantal Crousel, Esther Schipper, Gallery Baton, Peres Projects, Gallery 2 and Mariane Ibrahim. The majority of participants were art galleries in South Korea among the international galleries and it was a distinctive art fair without any divided sectors or sections that featured from blue-chip art to works of emerging artists and offered exclusive programs not available elsewhere, such as talks by experts from various fields, architecture, film, music and literature, as well as talks by private art collectors. And we also collaborated on a digital art platform Artue, which provided an immersive experience with AI-enhanced online viewing rooms. The debut of the fair, ‘Art OnO with a concept of Young and Fresh, but Classy‘ was a success.