“In Dialog: Chung Sang-Hwa” Installation view. ©Sorol Art MuseumSorol Art Museum presents “In Dialog: Chung Sang-Hwa” as its second edition of ‘In Dialog’ project, through August 25. ‘In Dialog’ is an exhibition project designed to connect the art historical contexts of global art and Korean art. “In Dialog: Chung Sang-Hwa” anticipates a dialog between the works of Chung Sang-Hwa, representing monochrome abstract painting in Korea, and Agnes Martin.
Chung Sang-Hwa’s “white abstraction” embodies the artistic world of an artist who has traversed Korea, Japan, and France for a long time, experiencing the forefront of contemporary art. In this exhibition, a selection of the most moderate white abstract works is introduced to explore the aesthetic relationship between Chung Sang-Hwa’s geometric work emphasizing performative aspects and Agnes Martin’s painting with poetic sensibility.
The viewers may find their gaze reaches the depths of the serene, calm, static, and meditative variations of color. This immersive experience is born of the unique and distinctive painting technique deployed by Chung. The unstretched canvas is covered with a layer of pure white kaolin. The gooey canvas is then folded and bent along horizontal and vertical axes. Where cracks appear on the canvas, the dried clay is torn away and the spaces are filled in with acrylic paint. This process of applying, drying, bending, folding, tearing, and filling is repeated over and over again, revealing Chung’s signature surface.
