“Luminescence” Exhibition

The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery

[Image: Dong Chul Ha "Silence 94-22" (1994) acrylic on canvas, 63 x 87 in.]

This event has ended.

The Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery presents the group show Luminescence. Showcasing large-scale light installations and other work by six contemporary Korean artists, Choong Sup Lim, Dong Chul Ha, Hyong Nam Ahn, Ho Han, Moha Ahn, and Yunwoo Choi, the exhibition promises an immersive exploration into the artists’ use of space, material, and color to reveal the vibrant luminescent energy of life.

The artists featured in the exhibition are all of Korean heritage and currently live or have lived in New York. The works on view reflect an East-West synthesis of artistic traditions, merging the artists’ distinctly Korean cultural heritage with diverse Eastern and Western practices. Featuring light installations, video, neon sculpture, lenticular panels, and works on canvas, the exhibition highlights each artist’s conceptual and material approach to light in an examination of its metaphysical relativity to nature and to life.

Included in the show is the kinetic installation Umbrella by artist Choong Sup Lim (b. 1941). Blending light, video, sound and elements from Korea’s traditional weaving culture, Lim presents the viewer with a meditative environment centered on the harmonious intersection of contrasting concepts such as nature and civilization, source and reflection, and visible and invisible. Like Lim’s other well-known works embodying philosophical metaphors, Umbrella references the ancient Chosun Korean moon analogy – a Confucian debate on duality and unity.

Ho Han’s (b.1972) Eternal Light Sad Dream employs aluminum and projected video to leverage the emotive force of light to facilitate personal introspection and catharsis. The installation creates an immersive four-dimensional, other-worldly space, surrounding the viewer with choreographed patterns of reflected light. This work follows the room installation Eternal Light - Different Dreams in the Same Place, which was exhibited at Palazzo Bembo during the Biennale di Venezia 2015.

In the sculpture Hippocrates, artist Hyong Nam Ahn (b. 1955) creates fluid, gestural metaphors out of disparate materials such as metal, wood and neon tubes. The luminescent vitality of both the physical and spiritual realms captured in the sculpture’s vibrant lyricism is further underscored by calligraphic, neon wall pieces surrounding the work.

Other works on view include Yunwoo Choi’s (b. 1978) large-scale installation constructed from magazines, From the Beginning - 20160928, which continues the artist’s exploration of Brian Greene’s theory of multiple dimensions and its correlation to tangible and intangible matter. Artist Dong Chul Ha’s (1942 - 2006) air-brushed canvasses blending intense obansaek colors and plucked ink lines examine the subject of light as the permanent source of life and spirit in the universe, while Moha Ahn’s (b. 1952) lenticular Kaleidoscope series presents dazzling displays of holographic sparkling lights reminiscent of mandalas, a symbol found in both Eastern and Western religions.

Luminescence will take place at The Sylvia Wald & Po Kim Gallery, 417 Lafayette Street, 4th Floor, New York 10003, from September 28th through November 18th, 2016. An opening reception will be held on September 28th from 6pm to 8pm. Artist Talks are scheduled for the following dates: September 29th, Ho Han and Yunwoo Choi; October 20th, Choong Sup Lim; November 16th, Hyong Nam Ahn. Luminescence has been produced in collaboration with the Donghwa Cultural Foundation and supported in part by the Arts Council Korea. The exhibition is presented within the context of Asia Contemporary Art Week (ACAW) New York.