RM, a global icon and a widely respected art connoisseur, has become the official face of Samsung Art TVs. As an ambassador, he will share his commentary on artwork via Samsung Art Store, inviting users and fans to explore the world of art through his unique lens. (Photo courtesy of BIGHIT MUSIC)

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. has announced RM of 21^st century pop icons BTS as the official ambassador for Samsung Art TVs.^[1] The appointment is one of RM’s official activities following his highly anticipated return from mandatory military service in Korea.

As a globally recognised art connoisseur, RM has made headlines for his deep appreciation of the arts, including visits to leading museums and his private collection of contemporary art work. Now, in his role as Samsung Art TV ambassador, RM will bring his distinctive voice and passion for visual art to Samsung TV users around the world.

“RM’s passion for art and culture deeply resonates with our vision to make art more accessible through technology,” said Hun Lee, Executive Vice President of the Visual Display (VD) Business at Samsung Electronics. “We’re thrilled to welcome him as the ambassador for Samsung Art TVs, and we believe his voice will inspire a new generation to explore the world of art in meaningful, personal ways.”

Samsung Art TVs, known for their fusion of advanced display technology and artistic expression, serve as immersive platforms where art comes to life. Through Samsung Art Store^[2] — a subscription-based service featuring over 3,500 high-resolution artworks in 4K — users can now enjoy curated content with insights from RM himself. His personal reflections and commentary on select works will be accessible directly on Samsung Art Store, providing fans and art enthusiasts with a unique window into his aesthetic sensibilities.

“As someone who finds deep inspiration and comfort in art, I’m honoured to partner with Samsung to share my journey and love for visual creativity,” said RM. “Through this collaboration, I hope more people can connect with art in their everyday lives — just like I do.”

As part of his new role, RM will appear at Art Basel, which is one of the world’s premier international art fairs and is held in Basel, Switzerland. There, he will host a special session to share his thoughts on contemporary art, collecting and the cultural significance of visual storytelling. Highlights from this event, including exclusive insights and behind-the-scenes moments, will be published on the Samsung Global Newsroom.

RM’s partnership with Samsung Art TVs sets the stage for a new dialogue between art, technology and global pop culture. Through this collaboration, Samsung continues to elevate its commitment to making world-class art more accessible and personal — now with RM as the bridge between fans and the art world.

For more information, visit www.samsung.com/za

^[1] Samsung Art TVs include MICRO LED, The Frame, The Frame Pro, Neo QLED 8K, Neo QLED, and QLED models starting from Q7F and above.

^[2] Samsung Art Store is an art subscription service available on Samsung Art TVs, including The Frame, NEO QLEDs and QLEDs. Currently available in 117 countries around the world, Samsung Art Store offers over 70 partners and 3,500 artworks in 4K quality. Through Samsung Art Store, subscribers can enjoy artwork from world-class galleries and masters at home and use it to create new interior designs every day.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 20 July 2020 – Welcome to part two of our series spotlighting the artists and institutions behind The Frame’s one-stop art shop, the Art Store. In part one, we met illustrator Hyun Kim, who discussed how The Frame has helped his playful illustrations find a wider audience. Here, we turn our attention to the curation process in a wide-ranging interview with the Store’s official curator: a world-renowned art advisor who’s spent the last 15 years creating bespoke art experiences, Elise Van Middelem.

Q: What are your main responsibilities as The Frame’s Art Curator & Advisor?

My responsibilities range from researching and recommending artists, to contacting the right partners, selecting specific artwork, and defining key categories.

Q: How long have you been curating art for The Frame?

In 2016, Samsung and [Swiss designer] Yves Béhar reached out to me to collaborate on The Frame, and I was immediately attracted by the possibility of demystifying the art experience. For me, art is a second language – a lens that has helped me understand people from all backgrounds and cultures. Our goal was to make The Frame’s art collection accessible to anyone in this way, which is why it includes artists from the four corners of the world – from Southeast Asia to Canada, and from South Africa to Europe.

We decided to start with a wide selection of artworks covering a variety of categories, including Landscapes, Architecture, Wildlife, Drawings, Digital Art, Action, Still Life, Patterns, Urban Abstract and from Above. This offered The Frame users the feeling that they owned a curated art collection of museum quality.

The names of the categories speak for themselves. However, within each one, my goal was to find artwork that transcends the experience of traditional wallpaper or stock photography and to replicate the feeling of entering a digital gallery exhibition in which every artwork has been carefully selected. The curation and integration of an Art Store within The Frame came at a later stage.

Q: How have the artists and partners you’ve collaborated with responded to The Frame?

The artists I’ve worked with see it as a great idea that could really change people’s perceptions about how art can be displayed. They’re excited by how it invites art into your home so it can affect you in your own space, at your own pace, and in your own time.

Q: How do you come up with themes for new collections?

The initial set of themes for the Art Store grew naturally out of the creation of The Frame’s art collection. It was a wonderful base to work with and expand from. Today, themes come with moods. Ideally, we would want anyone to be able to find artwork that fits their mood of the day.

If you take a look at the Art Store’s most popular pieces, you’ll find that the majority of users are drawn to images depicting tranquil scenery, and to the works of the Old Masters. Examples of the former include the Art Store’s most viewed piece, Julia Contacessi’s “Odyssey,” as well as Liesl Marelli’s calming “Ripples of Low Tide II” and Sandy Dooley’s playfully colourful “Painting for Mary.” Classic pieces like Vincent van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” and “Almond Blossom” have also struck a chord, which shows that users are most interested in artwork that brings a bit of Nature, or beautiful scenery, into their homes.

Q: Is there a collection in the Art Store that you’re particularly proud of?

I hold the experience of curating the first collection of artworks for The Frame very close to my heart. It was a unique opportunity to collaborate with various artists from around the world to create the most comprehensive, accessible, and stunning museum-quality art collection, exclusively for The Frame. Through the hands-on experience of curating that collection, I learned what works really well on The Frame. In that way, each collection feels very personal, and each means a lot to me.

Q: In a word, how would you describe your curation process?

Adventurous!

Q: What do you find most exciting about helping people discover incredible works of art?

Like many of my colleagues in the art world, what I find most exciting about The Frame is that it lets art affect you in your own space and in your own time. The Frame has the potential to change our perception of viewing art – how it is approached, collected, and displayed. It allows anyone to learn about art through living with it.

Q: What kinds of artwork would we find on your Frame?

I love to display the drawings of Clare Rojas and Ruby Onyinyechi Amanze, which are available in The Frame’s art collection. Moreover, there are some wonderful works of art, that allow us to bring nature into our homes! Decorating your living space with the landscapes of Cody Cobb, the ‘natural world’ photography of the BBC, and the V&A’s beautiful wallpaper patterns is a fun way to ‘rewild’ yourself during these extraordinary times!

Q: Could you offer any details on what you’re curating right now?

The goal with The Frame was always to create collections that would transcend cultures and backgrounds, amongst other things. These extraordinary times have left us wanting to bring nature closer to our homes. That’s the main idea behind a collection we’re launching soon, called “Biophilia.”

Nature-based collections – for example, artworks depicting flowers in spring or the sea in the summer – have proven particularly popular with Art Store users. I am very much looking forward to seeing our newest nature-inspired collection make its debut.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – 03 January, 2019 – Samsung has announced its new 2019 lifestyle TVs, The Frame and The Serif TV, will be on display at CES 2019, the world’s largest consumer electronics show in Las Vegas. The 2019 Frame and Serif TV combine award-winning and innovative design that fits any home décor with superb QLED picture quality and Smart features to provide consumers with the best possible TV functionality.

The Frame and Serif TV, Samsung’s flagship lifestyle TV lines, go beyond the traditional concept of a TV to pieces of home décor that elevate the design of any living space. At CES 2019, this year’s Frame and SERIF TV will be on display in the large lifestyle TV exhibition zone of Samsung’s booth to showcase their innovative design, performance, and how they seamlessly blend into daily life.

“The traditional TV was only focused on technical features, such as picture quality and performance, but now TVs are also a lifestyle platform that blends in consumers’ daily life,” said Reginald Nxumalo, Director: Consumer Electronics, Samsung South Africa. “This year’s models of The Frame and SERIF TV are enhanced lifestyle TVs that deliver a TV experience like nothing before.”

The 2019 Frame by Samsung

When it is not being used to enjoy TV or movie content, The Frame’s Art Mode displays digital pieces of artwork, including paintings and pictures, to turn an everyday living space into an art gallery. In addition, The Frame’s Luminance Sensor adjusts colours on-screen to fit the ambient brightness of the room, delivering the optimal settings to display artwork on screen.

This year’s model of The Frame also features the pristine picture quality of QLED, which offers deeper contrasts, deeper and darker blacks and 100% colour volume. With these enhancements, users can both enjoy content in the most premium quality and appreciate artwork when the TV is turned off.

In addition, The Frame’s Art Store [1] is building on its partnerships with the world’s most prestigious galleries and museums by providing access to over 1,000 pieces of art. In the Art Store, masterpieces from the Uffizi Galleries in Italy, the Van Gogh Museum in The Netherlands, Te Papa in New Zealand have recently been added. Samsung will continue to expand its partnership with museums in the future to strengthen the art distribution ecosystem.

The Frame also features Bixby, Samsung’s AI-powered voice control platform, transforming it into a truly Smart TV. Users can control the TV and access streaming platforms through simple voice commands giving users an enhanced content experience.

SERIF TV

The Serif TV was developed an aesthetic-focused TV in collaboration with Paris-based design brothers Ronan & Erwan Bouroullec, two of the world’s most famous industrial designers that specialize in furniture. The Serif TV was granted the prestigious 2016 iF Design Award, the 2016 Wallpaper* Design Award in the UK and the 2016 Good Design Award in Japan – making it the first Samsung TV to win these prestigious accolades.

The 2019 Serif TV also comes with cutting-edge QLED technology to deliver improved picture quality. Ambient Mode, an award-winning feature in Samsung’s QLED line-up, provides information, such as news headlines and weather updates, the ability to display imagery, and blend into any living space when the TV is turned off, was also added to enhance The Serif’s functionality.

In the past, The Serif TV was sold almost exclusively in furniture shops and department stores given its focus on interior décor, but it will be available for purchase in consumer electronics retailers in 2019, as well, to reach a wider base of consumers.

DON’T MISS SAMSUNG AT CES 2019

At CES 2019, Samsung will showcase innovative ways its latest AI and IoT technologies simplify daily life. These include brand new applications for AI and IoT, new ways to make AI do more, as well as new devices that place AI and IoT at the centre of users’ connected lives. It all starts on Monday, January 7 at 02:00 (SAST), with a press conference at Las Vegas’s Mandalay Bay South Convention Centre.

Be sure to catch all the exciting announcements by tuning in to the official livestream, which will be available via the following channels:

• Samsung Newsroom (https://www.samsung.com/za/)
• Samsung Electronics’ Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/samsung)
• Samsung Newsroom YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/samsungnewsroom)

Stay tuned to Samsung Newsroom for more updates on Samsung’s CES 2019 news.

[1] Samsung Art Store: $4.99 per month. New subscribers get 1 month free. Art can also be purchased a la carte.