Kyoung eun Kang “1402 Seok-Dong”

NURTUREart

[Image: Kyoung eun Kang "Self-portrait_Father" (2011) archival inkjet print on Sintra, 20 x 30 in.]

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NURTUREart presents 1402 Seok-Dong, a solo exhibition by Kyoung eun Kang.

Kang enshrines routine and subtle interactions into delicate monuments. Her works, which reveal the universal in the particular, memorialize the gestures that attach and bind us to family and strangers alike. Yet, only select details of Kang’s history are shared, reminding us that there are things we say and do not say when disclosing the background of our personal relationships.

Kang’s parents moved to 1402 Seok-Dong five years ago, when Kang was already living in New York City. Continents away, Kang finds ways to connect intimately with her family. Family Poems is a series lifted from their recorded daily conversations. River is an installation that includes the family’s heirloom chamber pot and overlapping sound of each of them urinating. Other featured works impart inside jokes and familial nicknames—sharing the punch line without the setup. For 1402 Seok-Dong, the gallery floor will be covered entirely with vinyl flooring, reminiscent of Korean homes as Kang invites us into an intimate space echoing her childhood family memories.

Only few particular and private anecdotes of Kang’s family are shared in 1402 Seok-Dong. Much more is undescribed, leaving an intimate space for viewers to meditate on details and the elusive qualities of relationships.

Born in South Korea, Kyoung eun Kang lives and works in New York City. She received a BFA and MFA in Fine Arts from Hong-ik University in Seoul, South Korea and from Parsons The New School for Design, New York. She has had solo exhibitions at BRIC project room, Brooklyn, NY; Here Arts Center, NY; PRIMETIME, Brooklyn, NY; and at the Contemporary Museum of Hong-ik University, Seoul, South Korea. Her group exhibitions include those at the Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY; Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, Australia; Museum of Imperial City, China; and National Museum of Contemporary Art, South Korea. She has received awards and fellowships from BRIC, the NARS Foundation, Artist Alliance INC, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, and the New York Foundation for the Arts.