Top 200 Collectors

Paradise City, Elizabeth and Phillip Chun’s picturesque hotel and resort, is located in their hometown of Incheon, South Korea, and home to the couple’s private art collection. Featuring a Jeff Koons “Gazing Ball” sculpture, Aurous Cyanide by Damien Hirst (the world’s largest single-canvas painting), and one of Yayoi Kusama’s iconic pumpkin works, the collection includes an array of notable contemporary artworks by artists from around the world. Also in the couple’s collection is the Anish Kapoor sculpture C Curve, a monumental bent metal form that reflects its viewers’ warped reflections. 

Philip Chun served as the president and CEO of Paradise Co., Ltd. from 2002 to 2004, when he stepped down and became vice chairman. Ground was broken for Paradise City in 2014, and the facility has been up and running since April 2017. Its exhibition space, Paradise Art Space, opened in September 2018 with the inaugural exhibition “Overstated & Understated,” curated by Seoul-based fashion designer and director Jung Kuho. Chun has called Paradise Art Space “a hub of new Asian modern and contemporary art where Korean and global cultures are brought together,” claiming that it “will show contemporary art transcending national boundaries by exhibiting works of renowned artists from Korea and abroad and by offering the visitors with an opportunity of hands-on experience.” Though Phillip fell from South Korea’s billionaire rankings in 2015 amid a widespread financial crisis in the casino industry following a backlash from Beijing, his net worth was recently valued by Forbes at a comfortable $765 million.