RAN HWANG

Intrigued by sets and costumes from Korean historical dramas and films? Then you will want to see actual furniture, fashion, and decorative arts from Korea’s Joseon era (1392–1897). Spanning some 500 years, Joseon was Korea’s last dynasty, and the legacy of its courtly culture and vibrant city life lives on in South Korea today. Treasures from the National Museum of Korea, the National Palace Museum of Korea, and the Deagu National Museum will be displayed for the first time in Singapore.

The exhibition will be accompanied by programmes and talks relating to Joseon Korea and contemporary Korean culture; as well as Becoming Again; Coming Together a contemporary installation inspired by Joseon Korea, by South Korean contemporary artist Ran Hwang. She is best known for create large-scale installations using pins, buttons, and threads. Becoming Again; Coming Together located on level 1 of the museum, and is free admission for all visitors.

Ran Hwang
Garden of Water,  2010
Crystals, Beads, Pins on Plexioglass + Video
230(h) x 90(w) x 6panels - Total 3 sets

 

Published on Apr 27, 2015

Third Floor is transformed into a private garden, in a tribute to the infinite cycle of nature. Thousands of elements combine in Korean artist Ran Hwang’s large-scale installation: a flowery landscape reflecting the fragility of life. 

Pin by pin, button by button, Korean artist Ran Hwang has drawn — or sculpted — a low relief of cherry blossoms and delicate spider webs. Twenty-one Plexiglass panels present a radiant natural vision formed of countless tiny pins topped with buttons. Five discs depicting phoenixes and peony flowers accompanying the panorama, symbolizing grace, strength and renewal. Completing the ensemble, videos projected onto the landscape panels depict flowers blossoming, fading and blossoming again.

Published on Mar 25, 2015

IMAS visitors had the rare opportunity to witness and participate in the creation process of an installation piece by Korean artist Ran Hwang. The culmination of the project was the unveiling of the new piece in an opening reception on Thursday, March 5, 2015, in which IMAS Members and the public were welcomed to attend.

Hwang utilizes materials from the Fashion Industry like pins, buttons, thread, light, and color in order to give birth to her signature birds, vases, or Buddha’s. For her the process of creation is one of self-meditation so as to reach a state of Zen. Her works can be placed into two categories; one where buttons demonstrate the “human tendency to be irresolute” and the other where thread constructs “filled negative space…[that] suggests mortality at the heart of self-recognition”.

RAN HWANG - Artists - Kang Collection Korean Art

Born in the Republic of Korea in 1960, Ran Hwang currently lives and works in both Seoul and New York City. She studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and attended the Graduate School of Fine Arts at Chung-Ang University in Seoul.

Hwang’s motifs of intricate blossoms and Buddha’s – which appear across a variety of media – stem from her fascination with Zen Buddhism. Buddhism is integral to Hwang’s creative process and labor-intensive execution. To construct much of her work, Hwang creates paper buttons by hand, hammering each one approximately twenty-five times until it is secure. Her process requires the utmost concentration and discipline, recalling the meditative state practiced by Zen masters.

Ran Hwang has exhibited at several international institutions including the Queens Museum of Art, New York; The Hudson Valley Center for the Arts, New York; the Chelsea Art Museum, New York; The Seoul Arts Center Museum; and The Jeju Museum of Art, Jeju Island. Hwang’s work is also a part of numerous private and public collections including The Brooklyn Museum, New York; The Des Moines Center for the Arts, Iowa; The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul; and The Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY.

Artist CV