Installation view
of “Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” ©Gana Art CenterGana Art
presents a solo exhibition “Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” by Chun Kwang Young (b.
1944), on view through February 16, at Gana Art Center.
This
marks the artist’s first solo exhibition in Korea in six years. The exhibition
brings together a comprehensive collection of works, including early abstract
paintings, the Light series, and variations of his renowned Aggregation
series, including large-scale installations, and pieces from his Healing
series. Through this, the exhibition aims to trace the evolution of Chun’s
aggregation technique, which he has developed since 1995.
Installation view
of “Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” ©Gana Art CenterChun Kwang Young’s Aggregation
series involves the meticulous process of wrapping thousands of triangular
pieces of Styrofoam in Korean mulberry paper (hanji), often sourced from old
texts such as the Analects of Confucius,
Mencius,, legal codes, and novels. These wrapped pieces are
then bound with twisted paper strings and densely arranged on a wooden panel.
Inspired by childhood memories of traditional Korean herbal medicine shops and
the cultural practice of wrapping objects with cloth, his work has been widely
praised for reinterpreting Korean sentiment through a modern aesthetic.
By incorporating disparate narratives
inscribed on pieces of hanji into a single cohesive surface, Chun creates new
effects and tensions that resonate with human history and life’s complexities.
His work has garnered universal empathy, transcending cultural boundaries.
Installation view of “Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” ©Gana Art Center
“Aggregations: Resonance, In-between” provides an opportunity to delve into Chun‘s artistic journey, presenting works featured in “Artist of the Year 2001 – Chun Kwang Young” and the official collateral exhibition of the 59th Venice Biennale, “Times Reimaged.”
Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.
