CNB Journal | Gallery Grimson’s ‘Figure_Insight’ Exhibition Spotlights Figures Reflecting the Times
CNB Journal introduced Gallery Grimson's group exhibition 'Figure_Insight,' featuring the works of four artists — Kim Byung-gwan, Kim Hyun Jung, Park Seung-ye, and Jeong Hae-jin — from June 22 to July 4. The article explained that Kim Hyun Jung and Jeong Hae-jin add contemporary subject matter to traditional figure-painting techniques, while Kim Byung-gwan and Park Seung-ye express the deconstruction of ego and inner conflict within the figure.
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Gallery Grimson's 'Figure_Insight' Exhibition Spotlights Figures Reflecting the Times
Works by Kim Byung-gwan, Kim Hyun Jung, Park Seung-ye, and Jeong Hae-jin on view June 22–July 4
▲ Kim Hyun Jung, 'Taste Sniper,' ink and color with collage on hanji, 129 x 166cm, 2016.
An exhibition looking at and reflecting on the human being — a microcosm in itself, one that records the whole of history simply by existing — is being held.
Gallery Grimson presents 'Figure_Insight' from June 22 to July 4. Every image in this exhibition features a human figure.
Gallery Grimson said, "In art history, the realm of figure painting has, since the dawn of humanity, played an important role in establishing reflections on the variations of life and the value of existence. Across East and West, figure painting has stood at the center of art history, expressing ideology, history, emotion, and even inner introspection."
The gallery added, "Insofar as the history of Western painting could be said to have originated in figure painting, the human figure reflects and flows with the times. From the past to the present, the figure has shown many transformations, and this exhibition introduces the work of artists who look at that figure."
▲ Kim Byung-gwan, 'CA#008,' acrylic on canvas, 100 x 72.7cm, 2016.
While many artists today work with figure painting, in contemporary art the figure painting genre does not stand as central as it once did. Amid this, a growing number of artists are reinterpreting and spotlighting figure painting, which most directly reflects the times, from new perspectives, building new paradigms of figure painting through their own distinctive modes of expression. The artists participating in this exhibition — Kim Byung-gwan, Kim Hyun Jung, Park Seung-ye, and Jeong Hae-jin — belong to this group.
Before simply looking at the aesthetic beauty of the figure, these artists seek, in this exhibition, to explore how they have expressed another layer of consciousness and conceptual approach derived from the figure.
▲ Park Seung-ye, 'I Can Be Anything for Us-b,' pen and acrylic on paper, 210 x 160cm, 2014.
Kim Hyun Jung and Jeong Hae-jin express their own distinct figures by adding contemporary subject matter on the basic foundation of traditional figure-painting methods. In contrast, Kim Byung-gwan and Park Seung-ye dramatically deconstruct the ego-splitting, conflict, and will that derive from within the figure, revealing figural form through that deconstruction.
Gallery Grimson said, "Through an unending process of deepening, these artists give birth to their own new figures, and through figures seen not only in themselves but in others, in those around us, they present not merely a figure to be looked at, but something of themselves suggested from within the figure." It added, "By juxtaposing two artists who work with realistic figural expression against two artists who work with deconstructive figural expression as a new expansion of the figure, this exhibition offers an occasion to reflect on what we should look for in the figure."
▲ Jeong Hae-jin, 'Conditions of Marriage,' color on silk, 82 x 60cm, 2014.
Reporter Kim Geum-young (geumyoung@gmail.com)
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