Connectworking: Seung-Yoon Choi, Seong Joon Hong, Doyou Hwang, Hanuk Jung, Simon Ko, Jungwon Phee, Qwaya, Wonhae Hwang

One of the defining paradoxes of today lies in feeling disconnected from the densely populated city around us in the era of unprecedented connectivity. Kwankyemang: Connectworking directs our attention to the interpersonal relationships in today’s society. As the title of the show implies, the show seeks to explore how the interactions among the ideas of community, connectivity and communication are reflected in the diverse ways we relate to each other on both individual and collective levels. As we navigate our way out of the time of social-distancing and contact-tracing, we invite the works of eight artists to come together, interact and connect. Kwankyemang: Connectworking proposes a renewed meaning of connectivity and connection.

On view will be the works of the following eight artists.

Simon Ko portrays human relationships in their private and universal aspects. Based loosely on his personal experience, Ko’s paintings present the trust, hope, and despair inherent to interpersonal connections through his gentle and calm poeticism.

Jung Hanuk’s intermixing of disparate elements on his canvases pushes the boundaries of painting. Jung has created works that capture the afterimages of memories shared to him by immigrant children whom he has interviewed during his time in Germany. Reclaimed by the children as they grow into their own, their memory fragments are transformed by Jung into unexpected and compelling images that comprise Jung’s works.

Seungyoon Choi’s paintings are a reflection of his deep thoughts about the concepts of paradox and duality. Choi views his works as living beings or microcosms in which the cosmic rules of opposites are painted in blue. To Choi, the color blue possesses an ontological meaning, which he mixes with others to create dynamic and powerful abstractions.

Qwaya captures moments of everyday life and retells them in his distinctly poignant point of view. By preserving the fleeting moments of just-another-day on the canvas, he says he “momentarily stops the passage of time.” Instantly relatable and beautifully poetic, Qwaya’s works garner admiration from people from all walks of life.

PHEE Jungwon creates paintings that explore the depths of his self-awareness using ink and gesso, the primal materials of Eastern and Western painting traditions. Inspired by personal experiences and emotions, PHEE’s paintings are testament to his dedicated research and experiments on materials, which flow and crack on the paintings’ surfaces.

HONG Seong Joon’s works are like a love letter to painting in which he reinterprets and processes his photographic images in painting’s terms and probes fundamental questions regarding the topic of materiality in painting. HONG explores the relationship between seeing and being seen, and shows his findings through various tools and frameworks.

Hwang Do you examines the relationship between painterliness and the human hand’s imperfections. Applying the Eastern concept of “the holistic brushstroke” to the Western painting tradition, Hwang fills her canvas with carefully placed brushstrokes that do not overlap one another. Through the use of her signature technique and the girl-figure “Alice,” Hwang creates landscapes of painterly purity and otherworldliness.

Hwang Wonhae creates abstract paintings using fragmented images of the city and architectural structures. Through her works that rearrange and combine fragments of the urban landscape and various architectural elements, Hwang investigates the boundaries between the two- and three-dimensions, and explores new depths of painting.

The special exhibit Kwankyemang: Connectworking on view at SEOJUNG ART Gangnam presents the works of contemporary artists, and shares their artistic inquiries, their findings as well as the future they are headed to. By bringing together influential artists with active roles in today’s rapidly-changing art world, we hope to generate exciting discussions around these artists and provide the audience with the opportunity to discover new possibilities in them.