Exhibition view of New Life at Space Willing N Dealing, Seoul. June 8 - June 29, 2022. Courtesy of Space Willing and Dealing.
From June 8 to June 29, 2022, the gallery Space Willing N Dealing, which aims to shine a light on emerging Korean artists, will host the exhibition New Life to introduce five female artists who are now mothers. The title of the exhibition, New Life, reflects the new aspect of life that pregnancy, childbirth, and parenthood have brought to the artists, their children, and the artworks. The exhibition demonstrates how these changes directly and indirectly affected each artist’s work and artistic practice.
Dongwan Kook (b. 1979) uses drawings, paintings, sculptures, and books to depict the process of accessing the unconscious. Kook captures and records her dreams through text and sculpture, and she often discovers things about herself through free association drawings. The artist’s subconscious is brought to the surface through drawings, which are frequently enlarged and transformed into paintings. In this exhibition, Kook displays 41 drawings of her fetus that she drew using free association techniques, one per week over the course of her 40-week pregnancy. A book by the artist containing the illustrations that correspond to the texts is also presented at the exhibition.
Heo-ang Kim (b.1989) is an artist who creates paintings that capture a range of emotions based on her personal experiences. In her paintings, she depicts her life as a caregiver after giving birth. Even though it is impossible to avoid extreme body changes after childbirth and the exhausting daily routines of caregiving, the artist finds joy in daily life and expresses this through her vibrant paintings. After experiencing the change of becoming a mother, the artist broadens her interest in the lives of all individuals, not just her child.
Utilizing various image editing techniques, Hyangro Yoon (b. 1986) explores the potential of abstract painting. One of the examples is the Canvas series. The artist scans images from American abstract expressionist Helen Frankenthaler’s catalog Ressonée. Yoon alters the images and adds new visual elements to the canvas. By altering images from the catalog and incorporating the image of his son’s painting, Yoon attempts to create a new connection between the past and the present.
Chae Yeon Lee (b. 1981) depicts still landscapes and portraits in the Korean folk art style known as Minhwa. The genre was a popular art form that was usually created by unknown artists for those seeking a blessing or a wish. Lee began to create folk art in part out of concern for her family’s well-being. Scallions, which appear frequently in her paintings, serve as a symbol for the artist. The vegetable is a low-cost addition to any dish, highlighting the main ingredient and possessing a robust vitality that the artist believes is comparable to her own.
Sang A Han (b. 1987) depicts unfamiliar landscapes with black ink on cotton fabric using traditional Korean painting techniques. The creation of an unfamiliar scene is achieved by introducing an unconscious element into a typical landscape. Through free association painting and the incorporation of symbolic images, the artist expresses various emotions such as hope and anxiety in her life as a mother and an artist. In the exhibition, a precarious-looking installation reminiscent of Tapdori, a Korean custom in which participants walk in circles around a pagoda, is presented in the hope of wishing her family well.
