In celebration of it's 34th anniversary, Kang Collection is pleased to present "Happy Modern: Modern and Contemporary Korean Paintings” from March 13th through 31st, 2015.
This exhibition features the work of renowned three Korean-born contemporary artists who work in Europe and USA: Ik-Joong Kang, Sun K. Kwak, and Min-Jung Kim as well as ink paintings by Korean Modern masters such as Noh Soo-Hyun (1899-1978), Min Kyoung Kap (b. 1933), Seong Jae-hue (1915-1996) and Song Soo-Nam (1938-2013). Happy Modern explores the relationship between the traditions of Classical Korean art and the ever-evolving Contemporary narratives and techniques that have brought Korean contemporary art to the forefront of the global art market.
Ik-Joong Kang, an internationally acclaimed, multi-disciplined artist bridges East Asian and Western philosophies using elements taken from popular culture while creating strikingly dynamic works that deal with globalization and its impact, and addressing Korea's tumultuous history and the articulation of the artist's endless desire for a united Korea.
Kang has been exhibited and collected widely by major institutions around the world including the British Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. In the spring of 1997, he was awarded The Special Merit prize in the 47th Venice Biennale.
Primarily known for her “space drawings,” Sun K. Kwak was the first Korean artist to hold a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. In “40 Rolls of Winding,” the artist creates spontaneous expression with color gaffer tapes (heavy cotton cloth pressure-sensitive tape with strong adhesive properties), a primary medium of her work, as a means of challenging the viewer's perceptions of space. Kwak's unique technique is both meditative and performative and has resulted in exhibitions and performance has included at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, Samsung Museum of Art in Korea, Haus der Kulturen der Welt Museum in Germany, and The Colorado University Art Museum.
Min Jung Kim is a visionary artist, who captures the essence of her identity through her art-making process utilizing a handmade Korean paper called Hanji. She creates chrysanthemum like rosettes via collage using a candle flame to shape colored rice paper rings, concentrically laid upon the other. Kim’s utilization of color, handmade pyrotechnic approaches, and the sheer physicality of art-making surpass theoretical and academic frameworks.
Italy-based artist, Min Jung Kim’s works have been collected and exhibited at various public and private institutions world-wide such as the Museo Comunale d’Art Moderna Ascona, Switzerland, Fondazione Palazzo Bricherasio, Torino; Museum Sbygningen, Copenhagen, Henry Moore Institut, Leed; Guanshan Yue art Museum, Shenzhen; Macro - Museo arte contemporanea Roma.