Kim Namjoon, better known as K-pop group BTS Rap Monster (RM), A 27-year-old leader of the BTS and an avid art collector, has recently released a new video on Youtube in late July and several instagram posts showing off his recent art-related travels and apparent growing art collection to his fans.
In 2013, American multidisciplinary artist Roni Horn unveiled a $1.2 million sculpture that references a quote from Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s Sputnik Sweetheart. The work is composed of a translucent, solid glass cylinder titled Untitled (But the boomerang that returns is not the same one I threw), like other works in Horn’s series inspired by literary quotes.Kpop Idol RM has been spotted reading and has discussed as an inspiration for his songwriting.
According to the artist’s Instagram post, RM purchased the piece in December 2021 from Xavier Hufkens, Horn’s longtime gallery in Brussels.
In a video posted on RM’s YouTube channel, the musician showed off another piece by his favorite Korean artist Yun Hyong-keun and another sculpture by Minimalist Joel Shapiro. In addition to posting photos of these works in the HYBE building near his studio, RM has also displayed Yun’s work outside his home.
In a vlog he made while he was at Art Basel, RM said that he’d never been to the fair before. He called it “[the] world’s greatest art fair.”
“I’ve been to art fairs in Korea a few times, but I’ve always wanted to visit Art Basel when abroad,” he said in the video. “I wanted to go to Art Basel held in Basel, Switzerland the most so I made time to come all the way here for that.”
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RM attended a number of Korean contemporary artists’ exhibits at Art Basel, including Yoo Youngkuk and Lee Seung Jio. He has often spoken highly of Paik as well, with his work featured on RM’s Instagram. RM also recently attended a show by Yoo Youngkuk in Seoul, where he was photographed with the artist.
RM sought out one of Swiss artist Ugo Rondinone’s sculptures at the fair, saying he had been looking for it for a while. RM saw Rondinone’s “Seven Magic Mountains” in Las Vegas earlier this year, and also owns a smaller-scale Rondinone sculpture.
RM asks a staff member an inaudible question in front of Philip Guston’s “At the Table” (1969) painting at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Since then, he has shared pictures of himself reading Robert Storr’s book about the artist while in Korea and more recently saw “Philip Guston Now,” the controversial, long-delayed exhibit of his work at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Highlights from the vlog during Art Basel included Louise Bourgeois’s Spider (1996), which sold for $40 million, and Isamu Noguchi’s Akari Light sculptures at Design Miami, which ran concurrently with Art Basel. At Art Basel Unlimited, RM showed off installations by Nam June Paik, Zao Wou-ki, and Alex Katz as well as Forty Found Fakes by Donald Judd.
RM is a fan of Judd, having visited the Chinati Foundation last year where the artist had an exhibition with Yun. RM also highlighted a painting by Francis Alÿs called Case #4 (North Korea-South Korea), from his “Border Barriers Typology” series, which depicts the Korean Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea.
In addition to his appearances at the art fair, RM showed clips from his visits to Basel’s Fondation Beyeler, Vitra Design Museum, Kunstmuseum Basel, and Museum Tinguely. He also visited Paris and the Centre Pompidou and the Musée d’Orsay.
At the Beyeler Museum, RM guided the audience through a Mondrian exhibit marking the 150th anniversary of the artist’s birth. Two paintings on display showed his journey toward abstract art. During a later clip at the Pompidou, RM commented on Mondrian’s 1942 work New York City, saying: “It’s not as tidy. Mondrian is human, as well.”
RM spotlighted a number of works by American sculptor Alexander Calder, including a mobile at Art Basel, another work at Kunstmuseum Basel, and The Tree, a stabile, or a stationary abstract sculpture, at Fondation Beyeler. RM called Calder a “pioneer of innovative mobiles” in his caption.
RM shared a photo of a painting from Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara at the Kunstmuseum Basel and Fondation Beyeler. RM also visited the Pompidou to see Swiss sculptor Alberto Giacometti’s works. At a joint exhibit on Picasso and El Greco, RM pointed out a large painting by Frank Stella and four pieces by Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara. He previously shared a photo of a painting from Kawara’s conceptual, date-based “Today Series” that was on view at Dia:Beacon in New York.
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Sources: ARTnews
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