Yunmin and Kurt Zala debuted Gallery BOM in Boston’s SoWa District in November 2016 with a two-part exhibition of works by Jung Woo Cho, the highlight of which was Cho’s installation, “Purity,” that explored the idea of water’s renewable potential and related to the artist’s nuanced spiritual understanding of earth as habitat.

A series of accompanying aqueouslooking wall reliefs offered a compelling invitation for audiences to step inside Gallery BOM for a closer look and perhaps begin a conversation about the meaning behind the work. It also signaled the gallery’s intentions in moving forward. Although large in size, “Purity” was intriguingly compact enough for residential placement.

Yunmin Zala is BOM’s director, and her vision drives the direction of the gallery’s content. She and husband Kurt attended the Art Week Miami fairs to scout for new talent this past December. The trip itself was a commitment of their diligent planning; the Zalas are collectors of contemporary art as well as gallery owners. In Miami, it was a thrill for them to see Matt Neuman’s work among artists at the Scope fair, because they had purchased a piece of his work within the last couple of years at an event in Boston.

Yunmin’s focus in running the gallery is to forward the work of contemporary Korean artists, and she plans on developing and re-working that synergy by maintaining Gallery BOM as a destination of energized content. Her background includes the study of art history in Korea and course work in museum studies at Tufts University. Along with her Gallery BOM duties, she is the art exhibitions curator at The Korean Consulate General in Boston and volunteers with the Korean Cultural Society of Boston.

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