FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Hyun Contemporary Presents,
Minho Hong Solo Exhibition: “Buried
Shadows”
April 1 to April 10, 2015
Opening reception: Thursday, April 2, 2015 from
6pm to 8pm
Curated by Dasom Lee
Minho Hong - Best Modern World 9,
Marker on Canvas, 2014
“Buried Shadows”
The neon lights shining in the street and under the bright lights the wild
cats are living and breathing together with humans. The reflected cities in the
eyes of the cats are cold yet warm, resembling the characteristic that humans
possess: An indifferent, yet caring.
Minho Hong saw the city through the eyes of the cats. Through the calm eyes
of the cats, each artwork tells a different story towards a different viewer.
Hong portrayed the attractive yet vulgar atmosphere of cities depicted from the
red light districts in Kyung Nam, South Korea filled with manifold bars and
Karaoke. Hong also emblematically allocates the figures of BMW Cars, churches,
mannequins, statues, and CCTVs to highlight the meanings behind his works. Drawn
upon the red light district, Hong’s twisted view of the city truly demonstrates
the metaphor of depression inside a longing for success. The complicated city’s
milieu and the antithetic view of the cats’ shining and ominous eyes, Hong’s art
symbolized the desolation and vanishes communication in the Korean Society.
Started in 2007, the series of “Buried Shadows” are drawn upon Hong’s deep
encounter with cats in the street. Among them, Hong saw gloomy emotions and
described how “the city and the cats share similar isolation yet thirst in
repeating the birth and extinction”. Through his artworks, Hong is parallelizing
the eyes of surviving wild cats in the streets with sorrow and lonesome
sentiments existing in Korea. Using an instant marker as a main material and
placing them on a heavy canvas, Hong symbolizes how the society is unstable and
inconsistent. Elegant yet buried within the dark shadows, Hong’s artworks are
concealed with deeper meanings.
Hyun Contemporary’s Artist Promotion Project Series,
BonJeong
Koo: “Buried Shadows”
April 1 to April 14, 2015
Opening reception: Thursday, April 2, 2015 from
6pm to 8pm
There always exists the victor and the vanquished in a fierce battle.
Especially within the fisticuff law, males pride themselves by taking a highest
position. Although the victory may be considered as glory, it may also be
recognized as greed.
Bonjeong Koo, who performed his artworks with charcoals and acrylics on
papers, deeply portrays the animals in the sense of magnificence and glamour. By
making both the winners and the losers in a wildness figure, Koo meticulously
portrays how they both eagerly want to grasp the highest and strongest peak
regardless of their strength. Moreover, by delineating the cheetah and the zebra
in similar colors and shapes, Koo explains how the cheetah, the strong, may be
portrayed as the zebra, the weak. Within his artworks, Koo draws out the
animals’ strong powers; On the other hand, he points out the eyes full of fear
and shame. From the looks, Koo strongly establishes an emotion of how all the
rivals who may be overburdened from keeping and defending the glories.
Clandestinely, competitors could result in a feeling of futility and indignity
from all the “empty ambitions” that they have attempted to acquire in the
past.
Bonjeong Koo, who was born in Seoul and earned a degree in painting from
Hong-Ik University, continued his study in the United States while attending at
Hong-Ik Graduate School. Between 2006 and 2013, Koo introduced two of his
projects in the United States and in South Korea - “Sacred & Profane” and
“Arrogance & Prejudice”. From his artworks, he pioneered the inner greed
within a human being.
For More Information:
Elga Wimmer –Hyun Contemporary, 526 West 26th
Street # 310 New York, NY 10001
Elga Wimmer-Hyun Contemporary: hyuncontemporary@gmail.com, 212.206.0006 Curator
Dasom Lee:dasomroselee@gmail.com, 973-997-9034
Gallery Hour: Tue-Fri. 12-6pm / Sat. 12-3pm / Sun & Mon. Closed