Seoul Tastemaker CYLINDER Makes an International Leap to Liste

The site of a former chicken shop was where the rapid rise of 33-year-old Korean dealer Dooyong Ro began. After four years in London, where he completed a sculpture MA at the Royal College of Art, Ro returned in 2020 to his birthplace of South Korea. There, he came upon the site in Seoul’s Gwanak-gu neighborhood. Initially, he planned for the space to be his temporary artist studio. But with COVID lockdowns keeping him at bay for longer than expected, he decided to embark on a different path when an artist he admired, Wonwoo Lee, inquired about hosting an exhibition and Ro decided to offer his space for free.

This marked the inception of CYLINDER, one of Seoul’s most noteworthy emerging galleries, with two locations across the South Korean capital. Next week, the gallery will make its European debut at Liste Art Fair Basel, where its group presentation “Skate Blade” will feature works by Jang Jongwan and Rim Park, two artists that underscore the gallery’s program of early-career artists. Many of these artists, like Park, are younger than the gallerist himself.

“My core motivation is to make some new path for our generation and the next generations so that we could just casually hang out together, not in this hierarchy,” said Ro.

Many in the international art world were introduced to CYLINDER after it received the 2023 Frieze Seoul Stand Prize for its solo presentation of Sinae Yoo, a South Korean artist whose medieval-like landscapes are populated by futuristic, mythical figures.

The prize represented more of a culmination of the gallery’s upward momentum for Ro, who ironically didn’t consider himself a gallerist—or his space a gallery—when starting out. Its inaugural exhibition, “AI VS AI—Artificial Intelligence VS Artistic Intelligence,” was staged in November 2020, with works by Lee and Minseo Kim. Soon after, Ro hosted another exhibition, “Chimera,” with friends including Christine Lee, Iria Vrettou, and Sun Lah. In 2021, he launched the gallery’s now-signature “TORQUE” series, hosting an exhibition of artists who had just finished their undergraduate studies. The first show, “Gear Shift,” featured artists such as Jonghwan Lee, who the gallerist continued to work with, eventually staging a solo show in summer 2023.

“I’ve experienced exactly the same things they could have experienced,” Ro said, reflecting on his own time as an artist finishing his undergraduate studies. For Ro, the “TORQUE” initiative was his way of lending a hand to newcomers in the art world. It marked a key chapter in his gradual acclimation to the commercial gallery world.

Additionally, a major milestone was the gallery’s involvement in the nomadic art fair The Preview, which was hosted in Hannam, Seoul in June 2021. Ro’s booth of work by Minhee Kim received positive attention from guests and notable collectors, opening his mind to the possibilities of CYLINDER.

“I had no idea why people were buying the works [at first],” said Ro. “How? That was my question. I could not really understand this ecosystem of contemporary art, but I was curious, so that’s why I took part in the fair.…I still remember the first person who acquired the work was one of the good collectors in South Korea.…I felt [CYLINDER] might be something different from the alternative space.”

Still, it wasn’t until CYLINDER’s 2021 show with the British painter Tristan Pigott that Ro would consider himself a gallerist. Ro reached out to Pigott, who he had long admired, and the artist was so interested that he even offered to pay for the shipping. The show, titled “A Curtain Made of Wood,” featured seven paintings, including four figurative works where the subjects are depicted in uncanny circumstances. The exhibition not only garnered significant attention, according to Ro, but also sold out completely. “Then, this moment, I started to think properly about switching myself as a gallerist,” said Ro.