![\"Sam](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/Sam_Profile-1230x1845.png\")
Park Seo-Bo (1931–2023) was a Korean artist. He founded the GIZI Foundation in 2019, later renamed the PARKSEOBO FOUNDATION. The foundation manages Park’s artworks and archives, organises exhibitions and in August 2026 opened the PARKSEOBO MUSEUM, in Seoul, with the exhibition Park Seo-Bo & Huong Dodinh: Emptiness Fullness, which posthumously puts the Korean artist’s work in dialogue with that of the Vietnamese-born French painter, whose work developed independently. Sam Seungho Park, the artist’s son, is the chairperson of the foundation.
\n\n\n\nArtReview The foundation is named after your late father. To what extent was he involved in setting it up and what are its aims?
\n\n\n\nSam Seungho Park The foundation was established in 2019, at Park Seo-Bo’s initiative. As my father was approaching the age of ninety, he felt that there needed to be a way to carry forward both what he had accomplished and what he had not yet been able to achieve. He had devoted his entire life to working as an artist while also making continuous efforts to contribute to the development of Korean art. I believe he strongly felt that a solid foundation was necessary to ensure that these efforts would not disappear in the future.
\n\n\n\nOne of our foremost responsibilities is to manage, preserve and communicate Park Seo-Bo’s legacy. He lived through a period of tremendous upheaval in the history of the Republic of Korea. He consistently sought to be at the forefront of change and to speak with a strong voice in the artworld. For that reason, his records contain a much broader story than simply the history of one artist.
\n\n\n\nWe also hope that the foundation will become an institution capable of having a positive influence on artists of the next generation. This is closely connected to the mission of the museum that opened in August 2026. Park Seo-Bo believed that it was more meaningful and powerful to develop together with his peers than to become a globally recognised figure on his own. That is why he nurtured younger artists and supported those who came after him. We hope that the foundation will continue to fulfil this role.
\n\n\n\nAR You mentioned the foundation has two roles: one is caring for Park Seo-Bo’s legacy, his work and how it is presented; the other is supporting new generations of artists, who might have radically different ideas from those that Park Seo-Bo had. How do you manage the two? Do they ever come into conflict?
\n\n\n\nSP I don’t believe that carrying forward Park Seo-Bo’s legacy means simply preserving the works he left behind. Park Seo-Bo was not only a painter, but also an activist and an administrator. In the 1960s, after Korea had emerged from the long aftermath of war and little remained of the country’s artworld, he helped establish organisations such as the Korean Fine Arts Association, and he encouraged the artists around him so that they could continue their artistic practices.
\n\n\n\nHe also made every possible effort to enable Korean artists to participate in biennales and consistently worked to introduce Korean art to the world. To discover emerging artists, he created an exhibition series called Indépendants. He also organised École de Séoul in order to contribute to the development of Korean art. Throughout his life, he believed that artistic development in the regions beyond the metropolitan area was also important.
\n\n\n\nIn this sense, the foundation’s vision of preserving Park Seo-Bo’s legacy while becoming a platform for a new generation is not that different from the role he himself played throughout his life. As for whether new artists need to share Park Seo-Bo’s aesthetic sensibilities, there was a motto displayed in the classroom where Park Seo-Bo concluded his career as an educator. It read, ‘Do not resemble your friends, do not feel indebted to history, and do not resemble your teacher.’
\n\n\n\nAt a time when authoritarianism was widespread in Korea, and perhaps across the wider world, this was a radical message. Yet until the very end of his life, Park Seo-Bo urged artists to remain wholly creative. We still need to do that, and this is what the foundation would also like to encourage.
\n\n\n\nAR The foundation runs a programme that makes the canvases Park Seo-Bo prepared but didn’t use during his lifetime available for new artists to work with. Was that his idea, or an idea that came afterwards?
\n\n\n\nSP It was not Park Seo-Bo’s intention to repurpose his canvases; when he was alive, he wanted to continue working as an artist until he was one hundred. After he passed away, the foundation decided to use his canvases as an extension of his philosophy of encouraging younger artists. Had my father decided during his lifetime to stop working, I think he might well have shared his remaining canvases with younger artists in the same way.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/WEB-Photo-1-Installation-View_photo-provided-by-PARKSEOBO-MUSEUM_photo-by-Jeon-Byung-Cheol-copy-1230x820.jpg\")
AR How do you choose which younger artists to work with?
\n\n\n\nSP Although I’m in charge of this foundation, I’ve only been deeply interested in art for six years. I’ve studied extensively to understand what art is, and I visit a lot of graduate exhibitions and galleries to explore which artists are creating meaningful work and standing out. I also look through their personal websites, Instagram accounts and other channels to get a sense not only of their work but also of their attitude as artists. Through this process, we find young artists we can work with. When I discover a promising artist, I contact them directly, purchase their work and provide them with canvases, and ask them to create new works.
\n\n\n\nAR What is the purpose of the new museum, and why do you need a physical space to further the aims of the foundation?
\n\n\n\nSP Compared with the history of Western art, the history of Korean contemporary art has been quite difficult. Korea’s period under Japanese colonial rule almost severed the continuity of traditional culture. This was followed by the Korean War, and it would not be an exaggeration to say that almost nothing was left at the time. For that reason, it is fair to say that Korean contemporary art has a history of only a little over seventy years. There are, therefore, aspects of Korea’s art ecosystem that still need to be developed. Park Seo-Bo’s decision to establish the foundation and donate all of his remaining artworks to it, so that people could have access to them, can be understood as part of a new development that is only just beginning in Korea.
\n\n\n\nOn the other hand, through research into and exhibitions about his artistic world, we seek to shed new light on its meaning within a contemporary context. We hope to keep his art alive in the present and to continue an ongoing dialogue with the contemporary art scene. Rather than relying on authority and convention, Park Seo-Bo discovered new artists on the basis of their potential and talent, and opened pathways for them to encounter a wider world. We seek to carry forward this spirit by providing a foundation for creators to develop their abilities freely and advance onto the international stage. The physical space of a museum gives us an effective way to put these convictions into practice. A single action can be worth more than a hundred words.
\n\n\n\nAR Would the foundation ever sell any of Park Seo-Bo’s work in order to support its mission of helping younger artists?
\n\n\n\nSP Our goal is to manage the entire legacy, not only the paintings but also the other assets, so that the foundation and museum can continue to operate sustainably. The legacy consists of Park Seo-Bo’s artwork and financial resources. If you were to sell all of his work, there would be nothing left to exhibit in the museum, right? At the same time, operating a foundation and museum requires substantial financial resources. If it becomes difficult to maintain them, we may have to sell some of his works. Even then, we select buyers so that his works can be displayed in public art museums where many people can see them, rather than hanging in someone’s private living room. Let me reiterate that selling the paintings is not our fundamental management strategy. Our priority is to preserve his collection and ensure the long-term sustainable operation of the foundation and the museum.
\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/web-Photo-2-Ecriture-No.230127-No.230128-No.230129_photo-provided-by-PARKSEOBO-MUSEUM_photo-by-Jeon-Byung-Cheol-copy-1230x1640.jpg\")
AR What have some of the biggest challenges been in setting up the foundation and the museum?
\n\n\n\nSP It was not that difficult to establish a foundation, but the greater challenge was securing the resources needed to hire qualified professionals to archive his works and conduct the necessary research. In terms of establishing the museum, the main difficulty was, of course, financial. Land and construction costs in Seoul are high these days. We had to reduce the museum’s scale. That is one aspect of the project I regret in some ways.
\n\n\n\nAR How has your perspective on the art scene changed since you became involved in the foundation?
\n\n\n\nSP Before entering the art world, I had been a university professor. Although I had always been familiar with art through my father, I was not as knowledgeable about the field as I am today. But being chairman of the board of this foundation is, in a way, my destiny because of who my father was. To operate this foundation properly after his passing, I felt that I needed to understand the art scene: the art world, younger artists, the market, everything. In fact, I came to see dynamics in the art market that I could never have seen from the perspective of an ordinary viewer or an outsider to this world. I also began to examine the education system and government cultural policy. I think this was a learning process I needed to go through to do my best in this role.
\n\n\n\nAR How would you measure success for the foundation?
\n\n\n\nSP Now that the museum has been created, it feels as if we have been given an entirely new mission for the future. The roles of the foundation and the museum are somewhat different. Visitor numbers could be a good measure of the museum’s success, but not the foundation’s success, I think. The foundation’s work is assessed differently. First and foremost, we must compile a comprehensive body of scholarly research materials on Park Seo-Bo and carry out that work to the highest standard. Since those materials inevitably encompass his contemporaries, this is less an archive of Park Seo-Bo alone than an archive of Korean contemporary art. That makes the process all the more meaningful and important. At the same time, we can contribute to a broader cultural legacy by supporting exhibitions, research and documentation relating to the young artists the foundation supports. I think the foundation’s success can be judged by the results of these efforts.
\n\n\n\nAR How do you see the role of the foundation and museum developing or evolving in the future?
\n\n\n\nSP For young artists, I hope it will be a reliable source of support, a place they can turn to, and for mid-career artists, I hope it will become a model they can look to. For the general public, I hope it will be a welcoming space. I hope the foundation and the museum can become their playground in the future.
\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nArtReview’s October issue is accompanied by Philanthropy Today, a standalone 66-page publication on the evolving nature of philanthropy in the arts, including feature articles on key concerns within the field, case studies on how philanthropy is involved in shaping the public sphere, and interviews with prominent philanthropists. This publication was created with the support of the Hong Foundation, Fundación Ama Amoedo, Padimai Art & Tech Studio, Amos Anderson Fund & Amos Rex and PARKSEOBO FOUNDATION
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