Surreal Dialogue: Works by 

Ji Yoon Hwang and Soyoung Kim


 

Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C.

2370 Massachusetts Ave. NW

On View: Dec. 9, 2016 - Jan. 10, 2017

This stunning exhibition of painting and fabric installation works by two rising Korean artists explores the language of emotional discomfort in modern society through dramatic landscapes and tactile furniture art, blurring the line between emotion, dreams, and reality.

At first glance, Ji Yoon Hwang's dramatic landscape paintings and Soyoung Kim's vivid fabric furniture may appear designed to put one at ease, but a closer look reveals a dream-like storm of emotion. Here, darkness and gusting wind threaten to overtake the viewer's safe vantage point, and a soft cushion is actually a web of delicately contorted human forms. Each artist strives to communicate this message of emotional dissonance, inviting viewers to consider the human stories and voices in modern society and to explore our own imagination through surrealistic visions of the everyday.

About the Artists 

Ji Yoon Hwang captures the dreamlike qualities of natural scenery, summoning viewers into a dark and bleak landscape that arouses fear, anxiety, and delight. In this way, her works stimulate the soul rather than just the eye. Hwang rouses the common conception of an "easy" landscape painting by adding intimidating elements to the formula and transforming the work's feel. The result follows the structure of traditional oriental art, but using Western techniques. Ji Yoon Hwang received her BFA and MFA in Fine Art from the School of Visual Art at Korea National University of Arts, and has participated in numerous exhibitions across Korea. Read more about the artist here. 

Soyoung Kim imbues her work with contemporary aesthetic characteristics by creatively transforming familiar materials from daily life with simplicity and repetition. The most important factor in her work is the act of sewing. Through this action she creates new value out of an object's original form and identity by disassembling and reconstructing it. The human figures in her work, made of cloth to be both seen and felt, speak to the various concerns, fears, and voices in each of us, and in our modern society. Soyoung Kim received a BFA in painting from Hongik University in Korea and from Meisterschueler at the Academy of Fine Arts in Germany, and completed the doctoral program in painting at Hongik University. She has participated in residencies and art show across Korea. Read more about the artist here. 

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