The artist created the Korean Pavilion at the SHANGHAI EXPO 2010 and exhibiting the first time in Beijing.
Ever since the phenomenally acclaimed "Throw Every thing Together and Add" at the 47th Venice Biennale that received the 'Prize of special Merit', Korean artist Ik-Joong Kang, American citizen from New York, has become a significant Korean artist in contemporary art after Nam June Paik.
Ik Joong Kang's works are included amongst others in the collections of the Ludwig Museum Cologne, Germany and the Whitney Museum of American Art New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul as well as numerous private and corporate collections such as Samsung Korea and the Rosenkranz Collection in Berlin.
The most recent "Mountain and Wind"was a major city project in Seoul, a work in progress, in 2008 covering the Kwang Hwa Mun Gate, the main Gate to the main palace of Seoul. Being destroyed and re-installed several times during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War this gate functions as a symbol for the reunification of Korea. Here he exhibited Moon Jars for a first time. Moon Jars are slightly asymmetrical, but it goes along with nature in his imperfection. It is formed by shapinga bottom half and a top half, and then they are connected by hand and glazed and fired in the Kiln.
In a way, Ik Joong Kang is willing to become this medium that joins the different parts to make it a beautiful form, the medium that reunifies two halves. "Its rounded figure exudes the feeling of cosmic compassion, yet in a very humble and tranquilmanner," Kang explains, describing why he was "drawn to the moon jar as inspiration..."
ALEXANDER OCHS GALLERIES BEIJING Contact Beijing: No.255 Caochangdi, Airport Service Road ChaoYang District, Beijing, 100015 [email protected] +86 10 84562054
