Michael Jackson’s global influence has reached yet another cultural milestone, this time through the lens of Korean Pop Art. Two remarkable portraits of the King of Pop are currently on display at the Korean Cultural Centre in Hong Kong as part of the exhibition “Kitsch & Pop: Korean Pop Art Now”, running until November 22, 2025.
The exhibition, which spans two floors of the Centre in the trendy Central district (6–7/F, Block B, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street), brings together a dazzling mix of works from both pioneering and emerging Korean artists. But for Michael Jackson fans, the spotlight shines squarely on the works of Dong-hyun Son, an artist celebrated for merging traditional Korean aesthetics with global pop icons.
Son’s contribution to the exhibition includes two portraits from his larger 40-piece series that reimagines Michael Jackson as figures from Korea’s royal history. Painted in the meticulous style of Joseon dynasty court portraits, Son’s works combine the regal formality of Korean traditional art with the larger-than-life aura of Jackson’s persona.
Clad in royal robes and posed with the serenity and power usually reserved for monarchs, Son’s Jackson is both familiar and transformed, an East-meets-West tribute that underscores the artist’s belief that pop culture, much like royalty, commands its own kind of reverence.
These portraits, originally created in the mid-2000s, capture the fascination and respect Korean artists felt for Michael Jackson during the height of his global influence. In Son’s view, Jackson was more than a pop star, he was an archetype of modern mythology, a global figure deserving of historic immortality.
Born in Seoul in 1970, Dong-hyun Son is one of Korea’s most distinctive contemporary artists. Known for blending traditional Asian portrait techniques with modern-day celebrity imagery, his work questions the relationship between fame, identity, and cultural legacy.
Son studied Oriental Painting at Hongik University and has exhibited widely in Korea and abroad. His fascination with pop culture stems from a desire to reinterpret global icons through an Asian lens, creating a bridge between historical symbolism and contemporary fame.
By painting Michael Jackson in the dignified manner of Korean royalty, Son elevates pop culture to the level of heritage, suggesting that modern icons, too, shape our shared cultural history.
The “Kitsch & Pop” exhibition itself celebrates the evolution of Korean Pop Art, a genre born from the fusion of American Pop Art and South Korea’s own consumer boom in the 2000s. The show features artists like Meena Park, Kyoung-tack Hong, and Sung-sil Ryu, whose works explore themes of technology, capitalism, and cultural identity through humour, irony, and bold visual language.
For visitors to Hong Kong, the exhibition offers a vivid snapshot of how Korea’s “soft power” extends beyond music and television. And for Michael Jackson fans, it’s a rare chance to see the King of Pop immortalised in a form that merges the ancient and the modern, a fitting tribute to an artist who himself transcended boundaries of culture, genre, and time.
Exhibition Info:
Kitsch & Pop: Korean Pop Art Now
Korean Cultural Centre in Hong Kong (6–7/F, Block B, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central)
Until November 22, 2025
Tuesday–Saturday, 10am–6pm
Free Admission
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