Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei

Cha Myung Hi was born in Korea in 1947. She studied Oriental Painting at Seoul National University and received her MFA in 1974. Cha currently teaches at the School of Fine Art, Chung-Ang University, Korea.

She doesn’t use colors in her works. Instead, her works oscillate between black and white, poetry and painting, and the East and West. Through abstract representation, the artist applies and contemplates the aesthetics formed through a dialogue between the force of reason and the beauty of an inner drive, reflecting the views of nature and philosophy essential to oriental paintings. Her works are filled with constructive lines and spontaneous brushstrokes that are seemingly contrived, but when you grasp the spontaneity of her artistic techniques you would notice that she has elevated the two-dimensionality to another level, transcending the picture frame itself and delineate a kind of boundless landscape.

Although Cha does not limit her creative themes, one could detect traces of her inspiration in her works; and these traces help viewers to interpret her works based on their own experiences. When looking at her works, viewers would relate familiar images in their subconscious to what they see in the painting. Thus, in Cha’s abstract painting, viewers may see water and ripples in a pond, soil and grass on the ground, or wind and birds in the sky. Cha uses charcoal and acrylic paint common in Western art, but the atmosphere of her works is much more similar to calligraphy and ink painting in Oriental art. Her artistic techniques are based on intuition and emotion, as if they are an artistic statement and manifestation—the artistic essence of painting forms in the creative process!

Yeesookyung (1963-) is a Korean artist active on the international contemporary art scene. Born in Seoul, the accomplished artist graduated from Seoul National University’s College of Fine Arts. She is especially good at using Ready-Mades in her narratives and cleverly employs different media and their various significances in her work. Her past work has dealt with her reflections on cultural identity under globalization through sculpture, painting, video, and installation art.

Born in Damyang-gun, Jeollanam-do Province, South Korea in 1969, Lee Lee Nam earned his Doctorate in Media Art from Yonsei University in 2008. A well-recognized artist, he has won such honors as the Grand Prize of the 8th Gwangju Shinsegae Art Competition and the title of Exclusive Artist of SAMSUNG Electronics. Lee is best known for his fine skills in utilizing technology to reinterpret and recreate classics of Western and Eastern paintings into mesmerizing animations. By doing so, he makes it possible to revisit artistic traditions.

Among the three video installations by Lee in this exhibition, Miindo, Velazquez and Some Ants draws on humorous reminiscence of a comedy. It places side by side two portraits: one of a classic beauty from a Korean traditional painting and the other of Princess Margarita by Diego Velazquez. In the course of time, the two sitters appear to have their outfits swapped, that turns out to be the optical effect in reality created by some crawling leafcutter ants on the portraits. At play are amalgamation and interplay of originally disconnected symbols and the exchange between different cultures. The other two video installations by Lee have found their inspirations from two classic paintings, Early Spring and Mountain Villa and Lofty Retreat, attributed to important Chinese landscape painter Guo Xi (1020-1090 B.C.) from the Northern Song dynasty. Lee ingeniously animated the two works incorporating time-lapse and sound effects. One sees the landscape change in colors as the seasons alternate and hears the brook gurgle and birds chirp. Lee’s renditions of classic art overturn the traditions of Chinese ink painting, which champion tranquility, solemnity, and classic elegance as qualities that yield transcendence and nobility. The works also provide a new means for today’s audience to re-engage in and re-imagine eastern aesthetics.

＊ It is recently said to be an imitation of Guo Xi’s work by Li Zai, a famous painter of the Ming dynasty.

Born in Seoul in 1967, Lee Kyung-Ho holds an MFA in Plastic Art from École Nationale Superieure d'Arts de Paris-Cergy, France, and has been invited to participate in the 5th Gwangju Biennial in 2004 and Shanghai Biennial in 2006. Lee’s works boast of a brilliant combination of techniques and approaches, including technology, video art, performance art, and interactive art, and can be found in the collection of National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. While he captivates the viewer with poetic visualizations in his work, dramatized environments are often created simultaneously as reminders of the various issues modern civilized society is currently facing.

The multimedia installation entitled Jackpot! by Lee on view in this exhibition is inspired by the term “jackpot,” which appeared both in a speech by South Korean president Park Geun-hye and the words of the artist’s young son. Jackpot! is Lee Kyung-Ho’s attempt to explore and expand on the meaning and significance of the term. In this installation, a small water-filled ceramic bowl is placed on the floor, inviting the audience to throw a coin into it from a distance while making a wish, much like with a wishing well. At the same time, a toy excavator nearby keeps shoveling as if intending to dig the gold coins. Projected on the wall behind is a video that first shows gold coins with the portraits of queens, kings, artists and politicians from different countries falling slowly from above; then, a collage of media footage is presented, displaying some of the most important figures and events of the 20th century. The former includes Adolf Hitler, Vladimir Lenin, Barack Obama, Park Chung-hee, Chun Doo-hwan, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Bill Gates, while the latter draws on events such as the Khmer Rouge massacre, the Gwangju Uprising, riots in the Arabian world, and some street violence. The juxtaposition between these historic figures and events and the humdrum of wish-making by regular people addresses the artist’s view that for disparate roles and identities, whose prospects and behaviors diverge, the definition, significance, and impact of hitting a jackpot also varies greatly.

Park Seung Mo was born in Korea in 1969. He graduated from Dong-A University in Korea with a degree in sculpture in 1998, and has held solo exhibitions in London, New York, Korea, and Taiwan. Currently based in New York, Park is known for his creative use of aluminum and steel wires. Through overlapping lines and contours, he creates layers that form elusive and astonishing images and shapes. He draws his inspiration from the time he spent in India, where he observed the religious practices and lives of monks and yogis, and through meditation and Mandala paintings, he realized the direction for his personal creative journey. The repeated coiling and meticulous shaping of metal wires symbolizes a meditative-like action with devotions of time and labor.

The six pieces included in this exhibition are from the MAYA series. Using realistic photographs of people as references, Park has transformed them into portraitures constructed with metal wires, lights and shadows, resulting in sculptural works in between two-dimensional sketches and three-dimensional sculptures. These artworks demonstrate the artist’s mastering of precision, material applications and dramatic display of lights and shadows. At the same time, the works have also preserved the original essence inherent to the artist’s chosen material. Through the control of loosening and tightening up the wires, Park is also proposing the notion of “serendipity,” by allowing the unknown and variants to take place. Similar to the encounters and the separations in life, individuals, things, incidents may come together and form interactions, and they may become meaningful, amusing, and spontaneous combination due to the reactions prompted by “serendipity.”

Yeondoo Jung was born in Jinju in 1969. He received his PhD in art from Goldsmiths College, University of London in 2001, and has held many solo exhibitions in New York, Madrid, Italy, Japan, Hong Kong, amongst other locations. Jung’s art predominantly consists of photography and video works, and through collaborations and interactions with the photographed models and other pertinent personnel, new narratives are created. Jung specializes in using props and backdrops to form simulated stages and cinematic settings filled with elusive and realistic elements, which are also full of ironies. When the audience sees his works, they are incited to recollect or reflect upon their personal experiences in life.

The nine pieces included in this exhibition are from his Wonderland series, with stories extracted from children’s drawings recreated with photographs by Jung. By working with children from four kindergartens in the span of four months, he collected one thousand and two hundred drawings by children ranging from five to seven years old. He then selected seventeen drawings from the lot as the scripts for the layouts and reconstructions of this photographic project. He also invited five costume designers to produce the clothing depicted in the drawings. Sixty high school students participated in the project by wearing the costumes and role-playing in the photo shoot, which resulted in a unique experience interconnecting reality with fiction.

Gimhongsok was born in Seoul in 1964, and graduated from Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany in 1996. He often uses installations, photographs, and videos, which are integrated with everyday elements in a humorous way to explore various social issues such as language, ethics, public space, and further propose criticisms for the phenomena caused by globalized capitalism, identity issues, and cultural interpretations.

Included in this exhibition are three relatively equal galleries containing seemingly similar artworks, which are used to present the syllogism of an art concept. The first gallery is called the Room of Labor, with the paintings displayed on the wall created by three part-time helpers in their fifties that have mopped and wiped over paintings previously created by Gim. A pair of “concrete slippers” placed on the floor was used as props for an impossible mission proposed by the artist with a reward offered to anyone that could wear these slippers and walk 100 meters in less than 10 minutes. What the artist is attempting to discuss with these artworks is the relationship between labor and monetary value, and also issues relating to copyright, ownership, and authenticity. The second room is the Room of Manners; the paintings on the wall of the same size are the artist’s old piece that has been reworked, with the objective to form a closer connection between himself and the laborers. The pair of slippers on display in this room was originally Gim’s commissioned artwork for a construction company. The intent of the slippers was to showcase a harmonious relationship between the entrepreneur and his workers, but the artwork was rejected by the company as the artist refused to make further modifications. Thus, the piece on display here is the prototype created for the proposal. The artist has created this room to comprehensively express the autonomy of art. The third room is the Room of Metaphor, with the brushstrokes on the paintings on display created by the artist mimicking the actions of his wife sweeping the floor. The pair of “concrete slippers” in this room is inspired by the artist’s personal experience when he accidentally stepped on his neighbor’s newly paved floor of wet concrete. In this room, the artist is proposing the idea that every little thing in life could be regarded as a metaphor for art.

Kibong Rhee was born in Korea in 1957. He received his MFA in painting from Seoul National University. He has won the Grand Prize of the Grand Art Exhibition of Korea. His works are collected by Seoul Museum of Art, Korea. Rhee works with painting and environmental installation in which the themes center on natural environment. He is adept at incorporating elements of water and fog’s physical change to present transient moments in life. His works usually depict realistic landscapes but exude a dreamlike ambiance that fluctuates between reality and fiction, as if the next moment everything will change.

The two canvas works in this exhibition integrate techniques of landscape painting and special processing of acrylic panels to display ineffable time and place in the natural world. This visual effect with a sense of uncertainty and ambiguous atmosphere imply the potential dissipation and accessibility of the landscape before viewers’ eyes. Dissipation is a natural phenomenon, but Rhee includes it in his works because he believes it can evoke beauty, draw attention, and spur imagination. Rhee hopes to transform his observation in nature into a transcendental visual experience.

Kimsooja was born in Taegu, Korea in 1957. She received her MFA from the Painting Department of Hongik University, South Korea. Kim gains inspiration from “sewing”; for the artist, sewing two parts together signifies relationships between people. The combination of needles and textiles parallel the relationship between human body and the universe, encompassing both the appearances and inner structures of things.

To Breathe—the Flags, one of the two video works in this show, is a mute forty-minute single-channel video. Kim uses slowly edge-blending technique that allows the flag images to emerge and disappear in corresponding speed in the video. The overlap, interaction, and comparison of the fade-in/fade-out flag images permeate the entire video, but not one flag stands out or is visually dominating. While the rhythm of breathing suggests interaction between nations and the transformation of linguistic signs, it also implies a status of harmonious collaboration between individuals.

Another earlier video work Cities on the Move - 2727 KM Bottari Truck blurs the boundary between “daily life” and “performing act.” It also includes concepts of video art and performance art. In her eleven-day journey, Kim accompanies a truckload of bottari (a tied bundle) to travel across Korea and visits every city and village she has lived. In Korean, “bottari” means a journey without destination and implies a wandering condition; it is also associated with war and poverty in Korean history. On the other hand, bottari also indicate Kim’s nostalgia and identification with her home. They reflect her nomadic life in foreign places as a female artist. The truckload of bottari continues to move while the artist’s body is loaded with emotion and memory that move with the artist in her humanistic and artistic world.

Kira Kim was born in Daecheon, Korea in 1974. He received his MA in Environmental Sculpture from Kyungwon University, Seongnam, Korea in 2002 and MFA from Goldsmiths, University of London in 2007.

Kim’s works pay attention to marginalization and deficiency in society. They comment on and question the dominant class and power structures in capitalist society. His diverse style incorporates photography, video, LED, painting, and installation. He has great concern for society and takes his artistic creation as a form of “discourse,” trying to change existing power structure by arguing through the language of art. In the context of capitalism and globalization, Kim emphasizes the survival of human beings, but when facing social and political issues he adopts playful attitude and method rather than willful criticism.

Chang Kyum Kim was born in Yeoju, Korea, 1961. He received his MFA in Sculpture from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Carrara, Italy in 1994, and studied in Kunstakademie Düsseldorf, Germany in 1995. Kim has held solo exhibitions in China, Japan, Germany, Korea, and the US. His works cross photography, video, and sculpture, in which the artist combines physical objects with virtual images to blur the boundary between reality and illusion.

Kang Yiyun was born in Korea in 1982. She was the winner of the first prize of the Digital Fine Art Competition conferred by the Minister of Culture and Tourism, Korea in 2004. In 2009, she received her MFA in Media Arts from UCLA, and is currently a Ph.D. student at the Royal College of Art, UK. Kang is skilled at using augmented projection to challenge viewers’ perception.

Divinity 0905, Sound in Burn 2012, Sign of Red, Divinity 0907KG, Gold, Cross
Jeong Jin Yong was born in Jeongju, Korea, 1972. He received his Ph.D. from the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Korea in 2005. His works in this exhibition include 4 mixed media paintings and 2 light installations. Mixed media paintings Divinity 0905 and Divinity 0907KG use an upward view and monochrome imagery to present the grandeur and interior of Western cathedrals, suggesting the authority of the ecclesiastical systems. Sign of Red uses a bird’s-eye view and sunset red tone to portray a panorama of Oriental palatial architecture, suggesting the feudal systems of monarchies. Sound in Burn 2012 shows vivid images of a piano and burning fire to express the free and creative spirit central to art, and its capacity to interpret humanist value and significance compared to theocracy and monarchy. Regarding techniques, Jeong applies a special three-step procedure: 1. Use realistic paintings as foundation. 2. Use ink and acrylic gouache to create unique textures. 3. Spread tiny glass beads (0.5 cm in diameter) on painting surfaces to create a visual effect that varies with distance. In short, these paintings exude a sense of déjà vu and encourage viewers to observe and discover the peculiarity of time and space within them.

School, A is B, which is C. C is D., A is B, which is C. C is D., A is B, which is C. C is D., The Cage of Multidimensional Creatures 1, The Cage of Multidimensional Creatures 2
Born in Seoul, Korea in 1969, Chung Suejin obtained her B.F.A. from the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Korea in 1992, and received her M.F.A. from School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995. Chung specializes in oil painting and likes to combine abstract and representational elements—including full portraits of figures, separate body parts, abstract geometric shapes, popular Korean energy drinks, and regular food. These elements often fill her works and have become her distinctive style.

An Ocean of Mother Nature, An Ocean of Mother Nature—Gorgeous Border, Let Me Be Sure to Wear Some Flowers in Your Heart, An Ocean of Mother Nature 1, An Ocean of Mother Nature 2

Hong Ji Yoon was born in Seoul in 1970. She received her MFA in Oriental Fine Art from Hongik University, Korea in 1994, and studied 3D animation in the Multimedia School in Yeon-se Digital Hollywood (YDHW) in 2001. Her work includes painting, video, installation, and performance art. The three paintings in this exhibition are inspired from natural philosophy and contemporary outlook towards environment. Focusing on universal themes such as life, love, and time, Hong blends oriental ink painting, calligraphy, and poetry with western representational painting. In terms of colors, Hong employs the five widely used colors in traditional Korean painting (black, white, blue, yellow, red) and emphasizes their luminosity. In her works, blooming flowers, flying birds, and rippling water constitute a lively, bustling and colorful world.

Born in Seoul in 1974, Osang Gwon obtained his MFA in sculpture from Hongik University in 2004. In 2013, Gwon was invited to participate in Asian Art Biennial organized by National Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts. His works have been presented internationally and shown at solo exhibitions in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Singapore. The exhibition at MOCA, Taipei, will showcase his works from Deodorant Type and The Flat series.

Born in Seoul in 1964, Choi Young Wook obtained his MFA from Hongik University in 2000 and has since had various solo exhibitions in Korea and Taiwan. Choi finds his inspirations of painting from the moon jar, a type of traditional white porcelain vessel made and popularly used in the late period of Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910). During Choi’s early art career when he was still in search of a personal artistic style and approaches, he saw a moon jar at a museum somewhere in the West. He recalled being struck by a feeling of déjà vu where familiarity was mixed with sense of alienation. It was then that he decided to use the moon jar as his subject of painting.