Where rest and art live together

Hello — I am Lee Ji-soo, director of SooHoh Gallery.

In early 2008, when SooHoh Gallery first opened, we lit the candle of a small wish.

We hoped this would be a place where our ordinary neighbours could find healing through art in everyday life — a warm-hearted beginning, open to those left out of culture. We dreamed of a gallery known for quality exhibitions and a home for talented artists no one had heard of yet. We wanted to lower the threshold between art and daily life for people worn down by the everyday, and to become a space people could trust.

We wanted to build a neighbourhood where every home owns at least one painting it loves.

Carrying that wish through the years, we established the SooHoh Artist Award, continued our open calls for emerging artists, and held the SooHoh culture sharing exhibitions. And wherever daily life asked for us, we brought the exhibition there — to national hospitals, to homes and schools for people with disabilities, to department stores, hotels, museums, parks, district offices, libraries, and companies.

HEY! SOOHOH is the next step on that path. Our wall looks at the work, not the résumé — no schools, no careers, no questions. Anyone who loves painting can hang their work here, and anyone can sit with a cup of tea and meet it. Even the drinks, made with care alongside Good Samaritan House, carry the place art keeps for its neighbours.

I hope your time here goes beyond looking at art — that it becomes a moment to feel, and to meet yourself. The door is always open.