Artists to watch 2025: Malaysia and South Korea

As the Prestige team geared up for Hong Kong’s annual art-athon, we also set ourselves the task of identifying artists to watch from eight East Asian countries, who should all be registering on your cultural radar this year.

Spilt into four parts and featuring artists from Singapore, Hong Kong, The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Indonesia and China, this round-up will spotlight the inspiration behind the artworks of these creative individuals. This part, we look at artists from Malaysia and South Korea.

Artists to Watch 2025: Malaysia and South Korea

Malaysia

Mohd Fairuz bin Paisan (PoOi)

Mohd Fairuz bin Paisan, aka PoOi, is a sculptor who intertwines personal narrative with cultural commentary. An early influence was his master craftsman grandfather, who built several structures typical of the Minangkabau people of Sumatra and, by doing so, helped lay the foundations for PoOi’s own fascination with issues of identity and heritage. These were articulated in his solo exhibition I Am PoOi, a series of wall-based sculptures fashioned from planks of wood salvaged from Minangkabau homes slated for destruction. Showcasing his technical prowess while offering viewers a window into his own reflections as a Muslim Malay male, each piece resonated with personal introspection and collective cultural experiences. More recently he’s mixed reclaimed wood with resin and autopaint to create visual juxtapositions that mirror the ways in which Malaysia reconciles heritage with progress. PoOi has shown in several international fairs, including Art Busan 2022 in South Korea and the Bangkok Hotel Art Fair 2022. His works are celebrated for their depth, inviting viewers to embark on a journey of reflection and discovery, while critics and collectors have lauded his ability to convey complex ideas through his sculptures. As his art continues to evolve, PoOi remains a compelling figure whose distinctive oeuvre offers deep insights into the Malaysian experience.

Nasrul Rokes

Some artists paint with oils, others with acrylics, but the medium of choice for Nasrul Rokes is sand. Rokes is making waves with his striking, textured canvases that feel like snapshots of shifting landscapes, both otherworldly and deeply personal. His fascination with the material began in his childhood while growing up near a cement factory, where silicates and oxides were in constant motion. Two decades later, he’s channelling those early memories into abstract works that are as much about feeling as form. His unique vision, unmistakable aesthetic and signature technique of layering droplets of pigmented sand with acrylic result in mesmerising compositions that oscillate between chaos and control, natural beauty and urban decay, in a discourse on the physical changes to his country he’s witnessed during his lifetime. His hugely successful debut solo show, Kontekstura at TAKSU Kuala Lumpur in 2023, cemented his status as a rising star, with collectors snapping up his work – his pieces can now be found in collections in Malaysia, Singapore and China, while TAKSU gallery remains the best place to catch him in action. As if to prove Rokes’s art is as coveted as a designer It-bag, a recent work, Luna, hangs inside Louis Vuitton’s Pavilion Kuala Lumpur boutique, though in an age when sustainability and environmental awareness are key concerns, his themes of nature’s fragility seem especially timely.

South Korea

Sujin Lee

Born on Jeju, Sujin Lee now lives in Seoul, whose bustle contrasts sharply with the relaxed pace of her island home. Her work depicts poignant explorations of female friendship, sisterhood, and the dynamics that exist within these relationships. The tranquillity of Jeju heavily influences Lee’s work, often infusing her pieces with lush backdrops of cityscapes enveloped by thick, leafy plants, elements she hopes will enhance the themes of connection and introspection that permeate her art. Sometimes incorporating seemingly mundane objects into her compositions, Lee evokes an unsettling psychological urgency. This integration, coupled with her masterful use of chiaroscuro, adds layers of mystery and intrigue to her work, compelling viewers to look deeper into what may appear ordinary. Lee’s conceptual approach to art is often viewed as therapeutic, with a strong emphasis on visual articulation. She was awarded the Selected Artist Prize at the 47th Grand Art Exhibition of Jeju in 2019; her notable shows include Glad to Me at Carlos Queso Gallery in Los Angeles in 2016, One Page at Lotte Gallery in Seoul in 2017 and Art in My Mouth at Manila’s Secret Fresh Gallery in 2019. She’s also set to showcase her work in the exhibition I Became You at H Queen’s this year. Her work is held in permanent collections, including the Boghossian Foundation in Brussels and the Museu Inima De Paula in Brazil.

Hejum Bä

Born in 1987, Hejum Bä is an abstract painter based in Seoul whose artistic practice can be described as hugely influenced by her astute observations of reality that are heavily influenced by modern communication mechanisms. Bä relinquishes strict adherence to forms and conventional shapes, and her vibrant paintings often reflect layered representations and reflections of interactions and movements, rather than any singular messages. “We’re surrounded by bodies of images that represent information and cause disruptions to the conventional assumptions about what constitutes truth,” she says. “I consider the ability to think abstractly to be essential to survival.” Bä has held several solo exhibitions with Massimo de Carlo, most recently I Want to Buy Unseen Eyes, her first solo show in Hong Kong. She’s also presented in Frieze Seoul, Kumho Museum of Art, SeMA Storage and OCI Museum of Art, as well as in multiple group shows. “I hope my paintings not only provide intellectual joy for viewers to follow my perspective, but also allow them to comfortably remain in a cryptic state, without having to guess what they directly or correctly mean,” she says of her work. “I believe this kind of estrangement from a certain pressure to find an answer is at the core of abstract painting and I intend to continue telling stories like this.”