Solo exhibition of Kwan Yong Chan Automatic translate

ASKERI GALLERY for the first time in Russia presents a solo exhibition of the world famous Korean artist Kwang Yong Chan. The exposition> is open from March 5 to April 5, 2021 and is timed to coincide with the gallery’s anniversary, which is celebrating its fifth anniversary this year.

ASKERI G ALLERY will present one of the most striking and recognizable series of works by Kwan Yong Chan - AGGREGATIONS. It includes objects created in a unique author’s technique, consisting of many small triangles wrapped in silk paper, dyed with tea or pigment. Kwan Yong Chan’s works are in collections such as the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations, New York; Philadelphia Society, Pennsylvania, USA, National Museum of Contemporary Art and Seoul Museum of Art, South Korea.

“In 2021, our gallery celebrates its first anniversary. We are 5 years old. Looking back, it seems to me that we have come a long way, participating in international fairs around the world, opening more than 50 exhibitions, organizing charity events. Each of the projects was bright and unforgettable. We became active participants in cultural policy, representing Russian artists abroad and international stars in Russia. However, looking ahead, I understand how many interesting events await ASKERI G ALLERY in the future. The first exhibition of the jubilee year will be a show of works by South Korean artist Kwang Yong Chan, which we consider as a step towards a large project by the same author in the Moscow muses of her contemporary art MMOMA, ”said Polina Askeri, owner of ASKERI GALLERY.

In his works, Kwan Yong Chan tries to unravel the codes and symbols that our life is endowed with. “In my objects, triangular details wrapped in silk paper are carriers of information or cells of life that exist in the space of a work of art, symbolizing individual social and historical events. By connecting small particles to one another, fixing them on a two-dimensional surface, I show how the basic units of information create harmony and conflict, ”says the artist.

The exposition includes about 10 large-scale objects of Kwan Yong Chan, created from branded paper triangles. This form refers to Kwang Yong Chan’s childhood memory of how medicinal herbs were stored in the local doctor’s office: similar bundles were hung from the ceiling. On the bags were written recipes that not everyone could read. Each medicine had a different effect on people: something was salvation, and something was a deadly poison. An important component was the signatures that had to be read in order to sell the medicine.

The works of Kwan Yong Chan presented in the exhibition resemble compositions from "bundles" of medicinal herbs, each of which is a certain source of information. Upon closer inspection, the triangles are written in Korean and Chinese characters from old documents and records. They all become fragile repositories of information, the text on which often has nothing to do with medicine. Kwan Yong Chan uses paper on which accounting reports, personal notes and even love notes, texts from books are recorded - everything that is associated with vivid sensations and feelings of people. Kwan Yong Chan plays with words, creating original sentences from them. For example, in one of his works, the artist finds new meanings, connecting place names with phrases from Confucius’ Analects and fragments of love letters.

The works of Kwan Yong Chan are metaphors with many interpretations and meanings: packages containing herbs that can save lives; whirlwinds of emotions and memories; life, captured on paper and collected in one beautiful composition; large utterances consisting of scraps of phrases; stunning, voluminous, bright and deep AGGREGATIONS (aggregations, unions, conglomerates) that can tell us about us, perhaps even more than ourselves.

About the artist:

Born 1944 in Hongchun, South Korea, Kwang Yong Chan grew up during the end of Japanese colonization and the start of the Korean War.

The artist earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Hongik University (Seoul, South Korea) and an MA from Philadelphia College of Art (Pennsylvania, USA).

Living in the United States, Kwan Yong Chan explored the effects of light and color in his works, but found this expression inauthentic. The artist decided to return to Korea and focus on developing his own methodology, a unique technique that would reflect Korean history and cultural identity.

In 2001, Kwang Yong Chan was named Wang Artist of the Year by the Seoul National Museum of Contemporary Art, and in 2009 he was awarded the 41st Presidential Arts and Culture Prize of the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of South Korea.

His work is in numerous public collections, including the Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations (New York); Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scientists (Washington, USA); Philadelphia Society (Pennsylvania, USA); National Museum of Contemporary Art (Seoul, South Korea) and Seoul Museum of Arts (Seoul, South Korea); National Gallery of Australia (Canberra, Australia); The Victoria and Albert Museum (London, UK) and the National Museum of Fine Arts (Republic of Malta).

Over the years, Kwan Yong Chan’s work has evolved in complexity, scale and color, but one thing remains unchanged - the use of silk paper. Chan’s objects are based on Korean tradition and history, placed in a contemporary context.