As Korea rethinks animal welfare, artist's paintings resonate with new force

A young wolf named Neukgu became an overnight sensation last month when his escape from a theme park in Daejeon set off a nine-day search that kept the entire country on edge. When he was finally captured alive, his story became something more than just a miraculous rescue. Just eight years earlier, a puma that broke free from the same facility was swiftly shot and killed, its death largely accepted as a necessary public safety measure. Neukgu’s live capture, by contrast, signaled a change in public ethos — one shaped by a deeper recognition of animal rights and preservation. And this week, it prompted the government to take a harder look at the country’s zoo management and animal welfare standards. It is within this shifting social landscape that artist Koh Sang-woo’s haunting animal portraits resonate with particular force. Through luminous blue-toned paintings of creatures scarred by human exploitation, Koh explores the shared vulnerability of beings forcibly pushed to society’s margins. In his latest exhibition, “Still Breathing,” at the Savina Museum of Contemporary Ar

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