This work juxtaposes an image of Pope John XXIII engraved on a Vatican coin with Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (Latin for “Savior of the World”), which sold at a Christie’s auction in 2017 for approximately $450 million. The portrait of the figure who led church reform overlaps with the image named “Savior of the World,” creating a collision between religion and capital, faith and ownership.
Here, the face of Jesus appears not as a symbol of devotion, but as an icon of capital, carrying the title of the most expensive artwork in history. The coin signifies the authority of materiality, while the painting reveals the sanctity of the market, visually exposing a dual system of belief. The work poses the question: “What is sacred, and what is for sale?”

SEJI GALLERY, located in Bukchon, Jongno, continues the historical context of Gye-dong's unique culture and art, realizing the value of contemporary art and seeking a new direction for exhibition planning.
We run exhibitions that can attract more widespread attention by artists, and we want to create meaningful contacts between artists and visitors. We believe that appreciation of the impact of works on us is important, and we introduce works that present various perspectives. It is a gallery that spreads the positive role of art so that visitors can sympathize with it with a rich perspective in understanding the works, and contributes to more people enjoying valuable works.

SEJI GALLERY

Priced

This work overlays a coin bearing Mother Teresa’s portrait with the phrase “Suffering is a kiss from Jesus,” translated repeatedly across the surface, turning a singular spiritual metaphor into a global echo. Metal and language intersect as the intimate “kiss” becomes material and impersonal, questioning whether suffering is grace, interpretation, or a narrative amplified through translation.

Echoes of Grace

“Matter is composed of indivisible atoms.”
The idea of the ancient Greek philosopher Democritus 
(c. 460 BCE) began as a form of reasoning without scientific proof. Yet thousands of years later, his thought is summoned once again into the present: a coin bearing his portrait is overlaid with a Wall Street Journal article 
on quantum chips. The coin’s rough metallic surface is magnified through optical and electron microscopy, 
and layered upon it is a silicon-based quantum chip—alongside an article discussing Microsoft’s “Majorana” project (a key concept in quantum computing, named after the Italian physicist Ettore Majorana) and its architecture, a design approach currently under research for quantum computers. Classical atomism has now expanded into a new unit—the qubit, the fundamental unit of information in quantum computing—where determinacy and indeterminacy, particles and probability, philosophy and engineering collide within a single frame. The work asks: what is the true fundamental unit that constitutes the universe? And at that boundary, how far can humans think, and how far can they calculate?
The coin symbolizes the philosophy of the past, while 
the newspaper represents the technology of the present. 
In the space between them, we are invited to reimagine the essence of existence.

Quantum

Sung Min Woo is a contemporary artist who explores ecological order and the dignity of existence through marginal life forms, particularly grass. By capturing the tenacious vitality of grass-often overlooked-the artist extends its quiet resilience into narratives of organic interconnectedness that shape our shared lives.
The work moves beyond simple representation of nature, focusing instead on the values and relationships between beings. Using a distinctive technique of gold leaf and traditional pigments on silk, Sung elevates plants grown in harsh environments into sacred presences. The delicate stems and leaves spreading across the luminous golden surface visualize the unseen flow of life, inviting viewers to reflect on a sense of awe toward all existence and the value of coexistence.

Grass Garden

Through pure painting, the artist wants to unravel the thoughts of love and life, the universe, and the invisible world with his own senses. In the story of religion, human history is found, in everyday life, the value of family and love is found, and the appreciation for the people living together is contained in the work.

Looking at the architecture of the city center, the sky leading beyond, and the infinite universe, the artist feels that he is also a small part of that huge world. We accept the mystery of life that exists in endless time and space, the passing flowers, and the wind as a special relationship, and we want to express the emotion in color, life, and beauty.

Window to the Cosmos_Alpine Poppy

Window to the Cosmos_Red Zinnia

Through pure painting, the artist wants to unravel the thoughts of love and life, the universe, and the invisible world with his own senses. In the story of religion, human history is found, in everyday life, the value of family and love is found, and the appreciation for the people living together is contained in the work.

Looking at the architecture of the city center, the sky leading beyond, and the infinite universe, the artist feels that he is also a small part of that huge world. We accept the mystery of life that exists in endless time and space, the passing flowers, and the wind as a special relationship, and we want to express the emotion in color, life, and beauty.


Window to the Cosmos_Solomon's Seal

Window to the Cosmos_Hydrangea

Window to the Cosmos_Unfamiliar Moon and Climbing Roses

Lim Dain (b.1989) studied Painting at Kyung Hee University and received her M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute in the United States. Her practice explores the meaning of everyday spaces and the idea of “home” as a place of refuge, shaped through memories formed by a life of constant departure and return. Through drawing and layered fields of color, she painterly reconstructs the aura of remembered spaces, delicately revealing traces of identity and lived experience where familiarity and unfamiliarity intersect. Built through repetitive accumulations of color and time, her works move beyond the representation of physical space, evoking an inner landscape of comfort and belonging that resides within each individual.

"Objecthood" is a concept that emerged from minimalism, often translated as "objecthood" or "materiality." It aims to strip objects of unnecessary elements, focusing on the essence of the object and the inherent properties of the material, to present works that are non-imitative and non-representational.

Based in Busan, Objecthood Gallery seeks to introduce the artistic worlds of emerging domestic and international artists who understand and interpret this pure concept of objecthood. The gallery also serves as a new platform to offer moments of relaxation and leisure in our modern lives.


OBJECTHOOD

Whispering Slit 2

Inner Eclipse

Nightfall

Window into infinite 4

Mirror of Day

﻿I begin my work by examining the surface of worn coins, an act that calls forth forgotten civilizations rather than mere observation. Using optical and electron microscopes, 
I extend microscopic surfaces beyond the limits of the naked eye and translate them into visual language, juxtaposing additional images onto the metal.
The microscopes are not merely tools of magnification but devices that transform perception. I no longer see coins as currency, but as material records where power, belief, and identity are compressed, their cracks and textures revealing layers of time and history. I overlay these surfaces with newspaper articles, film scenes, and symbolic objects, allowing images from different eras to collide and intersect within a single frame.
For me, magnification is both a physical expansion and a metaphorical leap toward deeper perception, where scientific visuality and imagination coexist.
Ultimately, this work uses technology to reveal the unseen and question what is recorded or erased, turning the coin into a canvas for lost voices.

The series, which began in 2024, is the result of a condensation of artistic interests that the artist has been exploring for a long time. He has built a deep understanding of art and space by continuing his work on cathedral architecture and sexual art for more than 30 years, and in particular, the color experience of stained glass became an important basis for forming the artist's own painting world.
In this series, the artist unravels the mysteries of love and life, space and existence in his own formative language. It talks about the beauty of life, expressing gratitude and wonder for small moments in everyday life and precious beings around him in various colors.

Dain Lim captures the feeling of rest through sensory experiences in peaceful spaces, focusing on her "Window" series.