Suki Seokyeong Kang (강서경) is a visual artist based in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, Korea. Kang's practice traverses painting, sculpture, performance, video and installation. Inspired by cultural traditions of Korea as well as contemporary artistic and literary discourses. Kang decodes rules and values that govern these disciplines, turning to artistic languages of the past to construct a contextual lens through which she explores the notion of individuality and freedom in the present moment.

Life

Kang was born in Seoul, South Korea. She studied Oriental painting at

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational ins ...

and painting at the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It offe ...

, London. She is a professor of

Korean painting Korean painting includes paintings made in Korea or by overseas Koreans on all surfaces. The earliest surviving Korean paintings are murals in the Goguryeo tombs, of which considerable numbers survive, the oldest from some 2,000 years ago (mostly ...

at Ewha Womans University.

Work and themes

Kang's practice draws on her early training in traditional Korean painting. In her works, she espouses the philosophical disposition of Chosun-era painters, who aimed to convey their own observations and interpretations of history through poetry, writing, and visual art. Kang's multimedia work often takes the form of immersive installations. Her 2017 project ''Black Mat Oriole'' incorporates sculpture, painting, and video. The colors of the objects in the installation are based on colors from her paintings. The work also included performers who carry and arrange objects, and sit and drag their bodies on the floor. Kang's installations all include objects that are liftable by the artist and any performers, and have sizes and weights that are at most as large as a standard human body. This technique has been a catalyst to convey themes relating to the subjects of her work. For example, the shape of the sculpture ''Grandmother Tower'' was inspired by the posture of her grandmother. She has also incorporated traditional hand-woven reed mats that she had commissioned. Among the themes of Kang's work are the coming together of individuals, and how they both form community and experience their own histories. She is also inspired by classical Korean poetry and dance. Her installation work explores concepts relating to grids and their aesthetics, and how objects are arranged within a room. Her style has influence from ''Jeongganbo'', a form of Korean musical notation. Kang has a studio in

Seochon Seochon (서촌) is one of the oldest neighborhoods of Jongno-gu in northern Seoul, South Korea. It translates as "West village" or "Western village" as it is west of the Gyeongbok Palace. It is also thought that the name could have derived from ...

. She paints a

gouache Gouache (; ), body color, or opaque watercolor is a water-medium paint consisting of natural pigment, water, a binding agent (usually gum arabic or dextrin), and sometimes additional inert material. Gouache is designed to be opaque. Gouache h ...

painting every day as part of her work.

Exhibition History

Selected solo and group exhibitions of Suki Seokyeong Kang include "The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989" at the

Philadelphia Museum of Art The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Fr ...

(2023),

Art Basel Art Basel is a for-profit, privately owned and managed, international art fair staged annually in Basel, Switzerland; Miami Beach; Hong Kong and from 2022, Paris. Art Basel works in collaboration with the host city's local institutions to help ...

2023, the 58th

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale (; it, La Biennale di Venezia) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy by the Biennale Foundation. The biennale has been organised every year since 1895, which makes it the oldest of ...

(2019); MUDAM Luxembourg (2019); Seoul Museum of Art (2019);

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

(2018); 12th Shanghai Biennale (2018); San José Museum of Art (2018);

Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia The Institute of Contemporary Art or ICA is a contemporary art museum in Philadelphia. The museum is associated with the University of Pennsylvania, and is located on its campus. The Institute is one of the country's leading museums dedicated to e ...

(2018); MAK Center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (2018); Gwangju Biennale (2018, 2016); Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul (2017); Villa Vassilieff, Paris (2016); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (2016); Audio Visual Pavilion, Seoul (2015); Seoul Museum of Art (2014); Gallery Factory, Seoul (2013); Old House, Seoul (2013); and Bloomberg New Contemporaries, London (2012). She is the recipient of the

Baloise Art Prize The Baloise Art Prize is a prize awarded to two people each year at "Art Statements" sector of the international Art Basel fair. The prize is awarded by the Bâloise group (insurance and banking), a company that works to promote contemporary, eme ...

(2018) and Songeun Art Award (2013). In March 2022, Kang had two solo exhibitions at the

Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art The Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art is a museum in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, South Korea, run by the Samsung Foundation of Culture. It consists of two parts that house traditional Korean art and contemporary art. Museum 1 is designed by Swiss ...

. Her piece "Hear We Hear" is publicly displayed in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

Awards

Kang was a recipient of a 2018

. She was also shortlisted for the SongEun Art Award in 2013–2014.

Collections

The work of Suki Seokyeong Kang is included in the permanent collections of

Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) is an art museum located on Wilshire Boulevard in the Miracle Mile, Los Angeles, California, Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. LACMA is on Museum Row, adjacent to the La Brea Tar Pits (George C. Pa ...

, Los Angeles; MMCA (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art), Seoul;

Walker Art Center The Walker Art Center is a multidisciplinary contemporary art center in the Lowry Hill neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States. The Walker is one of the most-visited modern and contemporary art museums in the United States and, t ...

, Minneapolis; Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul;

Princeton University Art Museum The Princeton University Art Museum (PUAM) is the Princeton University gallery of art, located in Princeton, New Jersey. With a collecting history that began in 1755, the museum was formally established in 1882, and now houses over 113,000 works o ...

, Princeton; MUDAM Luxembourg;

Seoul Museum of Art The Seoul Museum of Art is an art museum operated by Seoul City Council and located in central of Seoul, South Korea. History A girl named Jayla opened the museum first after getting the idea from another museum. It was opened in the Gyeonghuig ...

, Seoul; Arario Museum, Seoul; Booth Collection-University of Chicago, Chicago; National Art Bank, Korea, among others.

Publications

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Suki Seokyeong 1977 births Artists from Seoul Multimedia artists Living people South Korean women artists 21st-century South Korean artists