SPACE October 2026 (No. 707)
Frieze Seoul 2026, held from Sept. 2‒5, brought together leading domestic and international galleries in COEX. This year, Shinsegae Group joined Frieze Seoul as a headline partner, marking the beginning of a five-year partnership that will continue until 2030. With new partnership, this year’s edition introduced ‘curated sections’ to bring together works across generations and genres. Unlike conventional museums, where visiting circulation is tailored within a single curatorial framework, an art fair prompts rapid shift in attention as visitors move between booths. In this setting, Shinsegae Group presented Paul Cox’s special exhibition, 《L’Immensité du Quotidien: The Monumental Everyday》, in its dedicated space called the ‘Shinsegae Lounge’. While the surrounding gallery displayed their exhibits toward the aisles, the Shinsegae Lounge used a partition wall covered by Paul Cox’s Diary 16 05 26 to deliberately separate itself from surroundings and create a point of experimental transition. Paris- and Burgundy-based artist Paul Cox works across a range of disciplines, including painting, graphic design, publishing, stage design, and costume design. He translates the colours and forms he observes in his surroundings into his work. Diary is an ongoing series that records the artist’s evening meditations, which he has practiced every day. Each work is dated in the format YY.MM.DD. After passing a single enlarged image on the wall, the viewing experience shifts dramatically. Visitors are presented with a panoramic view of 336 original works from the same series, unfolding along a long wall.
(left) At the entrance to the Shinsegae Lounge, visitors encounter a large-scale image of Paul Cox’s ‘Diary 16 05 26’. (right) Upon entering the exhibition space, black-and-white linework and layered paper can be seen in the ‘Diary’ series. ⓒChoi Jinbo
To be more specific, the works are painted in gouache on paper, featuring different combinations of diverse elements, including trees, paths, fields, and buildings, that the artist observed during his walks. The works are arranged chronologically to reveal a gradual transformation of his work from the simple line drawings and collage to vivid blocks of colour and concise outlines. Viewed from a closer aspect, each individual work stands out through its distinct lines and blocks of color, as well as the interplay between layered paper and colour. A few steps back, however, the continuous sequence of identically sized sheets creates a flowing composition of colour and form. Furthermore, the 336 scenes come together to form a single landscape. Stepping even farther back, visitors moving in front of the works are naturally superimposed onto this landscape, becoming part of the scene themselves.
Installation view of 336 works from the Diary series coming together to form a single landscape ⓒChoi Jinbo
The imagery captured by Paul Cox illustrates the ever-changing light, colours, and forms of everyday life. If the exhibition title, ‘L’Immensité du Quotidien’, refers to the artist’s perspective of continually discovering new sensations within ordinary days, then the subtitle, ‘The Monumental Everyday’, can be understood through the accumulation of 336 works. At this point, the language of the exhibition also resonates with Shinsegae Group’s ongoing efforts to bring cultural and artistic experiences into everyday spaces. 《L’Immensité du Quotidien: The Monumental Everyday》 thus serves not only as a title that describes Cox’s artistic world, but also as a reflection of how Shinsegae Group approached the relationship between everyday life and art at this year’s Frieze Seoul.
