Some familiar artists, but maybe the gallery name is less familiar. Actually, HADA Contemporary is a joint venture between Korean Tom Woo and Tony Pontone of the Albemarle Gallery. And that’s where the group show is.
EMBRACING THE VOID
MOON BEOM | GWON OSANG | JEONG MYOUNGJO | JE BAAK | LEE JINHANOPENING RECEPTION | Thursday 2 JUNE 6-8 pm
3 – 25 JUNE 2011
49 Albemarle Street | London | W1S 4JR
+44 (0) 7912 417 629
[email protected] | www.hadacontemporary.com
HADA Contemporary is pleased to present ‘Embracing the Void’ a group exhibition with artists Moon Beom, Gwon Osang, Lee Jinhan, Jeong Myoungjo and Je Baak.
When a Korean artist applies a brush stroke to Hanji (mulberry bark) paper; the intention is to draw the viewer’s attention to the space the mark has corrupted as much as to the mark itself. The relationship of the object to the space it inhabits and man (or woman) to the object are two central tenets of Korean art. The embrace of ‘nothingness’ as a path towards Buddha-hood is at the heart of spirituality in Asia, and the invasion of consumer goods and services infringes on this incorporeal world. All the artists brought together for this exhibition are concerned with our use of space and our relationship of us and our material possessions to the void.
Moon Beom’s works at once recall the natural landscapes in the long tradition of Korean painting and at another, the unnatural appropriations of modern materials found in contemporary Western art. Though his works negotiate this paradox between traditional Eastern art and Western conceptual art, at its core, his practice embraces a Buddhist-like detached observance of both of these artistic influences. Moon Beom received his BFA and MFA from Seoul National University and currently lives and works in Seoul. His work has been reviewed in Art in American, Artforum,Tema Celeste, Art Press and Sculpture.
Gwon Osang is a sculptor first and foremost, whose work often lives between two and three dimensions. Gwon’s works, through light, hybrid sculptures which meld the classical and modern in both style and substance, posit the inherent problems with modern commercialisation and consumption in Korea. Gwon has been featured in numerous group exhibitions including ‘A PositiveView’, Somerset House, London (2010), ‘Korean Eye’ Saatchi Gallery, London (2010), The Burger Collection, Berlin (2008), the Asia Triennial in Manchester and the Global EurAsia Exhibition at Art Cologne (2008).
Lee Jinhan’s energetic canvasses which experiment with media, explore both the Renaissance representation of perspective and the flat object-driven Modernism which abandons reference to the real world. Her brightly coloured works play with space and differing relationships to space in an incorporeal world. After graduating with a B.F.A. from Hongik University – Seoul, Lee Jinhan obtained an M.F.A from Central Saint Martins, London. Her works have been exhibited in both Korea and the UK.
Jeong Myoungjo’s life-size hyperrealist oil portraits immaculately portray Korean women in traditional dress. Though Jeong distinguishes the women through their dress, she deliberately faces her characters away from the viewer, towards the void and stifles any movement in time. These women, defined by their material possessions only, are frozen in an ethereal world. Jeong received her BFA and MFA from the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea. She has participated in a number of solo and group exhibitions in Seoul, Beijing, Tokyo, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam and Athens.
While many of the artists in ‘Korean Collective 2011’ are influenced by Buddhist spirituality, Je Baak’s artistic practice centres on his spiritual practice of Zen Buddhism. The object or subject of attention is constantly shifted, sometimes deleted, to prompt the viewer to experience familiar scenes from altered perspectives. Baak forces viewers into introspection, developing the beginning of an ‘inward eye’ whereby self realisation and ultimately enlightenment is attained. Baak received his B.F.A. inVisual Communication from Seoul National University and his MA in Communication Art & Design from the Royal College of Art, London. He was awarded the Chris Ganrham Memorial Award from the RCA and The Grand Prize from Joongang Fine Art in 2010.
3-25 June 2011
10am – 6pm Monday to Friday.
11am – 4pm SaturdayTo attend the opening reception on 2 June please RSVP to [email protected]
For more information please contact :
Tom Woo
Tel. +44 (0)7912 417 629
[email protected]
(automatically generated) Read LKL’s review of this event here.