APRIL 2024 Overview

Gana Art hosts "Homeward Soar", the latest solo exhibition of Myungjin Kim (b. 1975-), a Los Angeles-based Korean artist who blends Mexican and Korean ceramics traditions. As the artist's first exhibition in Korea in 20 years, the collection showcases his artistic journey of sublimating various materials and inspirations into his work. The artworks are a fusion of the terracotta technique of Mexican ceramics, which highlights the natural color of the soil, and the conceptual framework of Hwajo-do (花鳥圖), a type of 19th-century Korean folk painting. The artist uses owls (symbols of wealth, good fortune, and wisdom) and cycads (symbols of vitality) to convey the magical concept of praying for prosperity, longevity, and a happy life. The end result is a kind of "modern talisman" upon which one can wish. Wish for what? For a world of successful and harmonious blend of Eastern and Western worldviews, a world of piece and prosperity.

"Dark and Fiery, Cold and Shiny" is a joint exhibition by Kim Si-young and Lee Sang-hyup reflecting on the tradition of craftsmanship, one of the few art practices in Korea that have not been influenced by Western Modernism. The artists highlight the labor-intensive process behind the completed work and the importance of the materials' properties. In recent years, with the revival of Monochrome paintings, there has been a renewed attention to traditional Korean off-white artworks such as the Moon Jar. The Moon Jar is considered to be a symbol of Korean aesthetics. For Lee Sang-hyup, however, a jar and a Monochrome painting, though both off-white, are different. A painting is just a passive bystander in someone's life while a ceramics bowl is an artwork which participates in one's daily life. This fusion of art and utility, of historical traditions and daily life is indispensible and unique. Kim Si-young's metal jars approach the topic of this emblematic object from a different perspective. Metal is about mass and volume, about modern industrialism. The material itself embodies the spirit of the times.

Gallery Sein is hosting the ninth solo exhibition of artist Kim Byung-Chil (below) who works at the intersection of Eastern thought and Korean beauty, looking at objects through the eye of meditation. He creates his artworks by creating paper forms on canvas and then colouring them with natural pigments. The works in this exhibition focuse on the beauty of simplicity and purity, typical of Korean aesthetics, to which painterly strokes are added. In addition, through the exploration of the artist's thoughts and materials that seek to capture the essence, it will be possible to look at the world of work with new expressions, unlike the existing works. Titled "Anima – Seed, Embracing the Universe", the exhibition centers around mustard seeds featured in both Buddhist and Christian doctrines as containing the whole universe in themselves.

"Pink Paradise-Romantic Road" by Yeo Dong Hun explores the dream of a lost childhood. His artworks invite the viewers to compare and contrast their adult lives with the carefree, optimistic and envigorating childhood; juxtaposing the paradise of colours vs the oppresive reality of later life. Keeping the memory of this fairyland may be the only way to avoid being swallen by the crude reality, disheartened and disappointed. This is what the artist would like to do for his viewers.

Rio Jee immerses herself in doodles without special purpose or intent. The doodles are another world, far from reality, in which she meets her most true inner self. The title of the exhibition "RIOPIA" (pictures below) is a blend of the artist's name and the word "utopia" suggesting that everyone can find and build within themselves their own perfect world.

JUNGKING's exhibition "March on, life is fun" (below) builds an entire world around the character X blending the different aspects of his life into a semi-coherent world of its own. What may seem like scattered events and thoughts is skillfully blended into a single whole. The aim of the artist is to bring in more colours and optimism to the life of his audience.