Kumho Museum of Art presents its annual exhibition 《2025 KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST 1》 on view through April 27. Since its first open call in 2004, Kumho Museum of Art has selected 101 artists through its young artist support program, “Kumho Young Artist,” and hosted solo exhibitions for the artists.

The exhibit 《2025 KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST》 presents new works of 6 artists selected from the 22nd open call at their respective solo exhibits. The first part (3.21~4.27) introduces KANG Cheolgyu, SONG Seungjoon, and LEE Haevan, and the second part (5.9~6.15) introduces KANG Nayoung, YOO Sangwoo, and JOO Hyeongjoon.

1. KANG Cheolgyu, 《Projection Note》 (3F)
KANG Cheolgyu depicts an imaginary world where reality and fiction intersect, drawing from his autobiographical experiences. His work projects his thoughts, emotions, and desires onto specific subjects or situations, reconstructing personal narratives through a symbolic visual language.

In this exhibition, KANG explores themes of existential anxiety, the desire for life, and the psychological process of overcoming these tensions by employing the contrasting motifs of the "stranger" and the "predator." The recurring half-human, half-beast figures scattered throughout his works symbolize a fragmented self, repflecting his current state and metaphorically expressing inner conflict and introspection.

2. SONG Seungjoon, 《The Pollinator》 (B1)
SONG Seungjoon offers an alternative to the human tendency to romanticize nature by depicting its eerie and contradictory aspects through original scenarios and corresponding installation artworks. In this exhibition, SONG deepens his ecological exploration by focusing on the vitality of ecosystems in uninhabited zones.

Set in a fictional floating refugee camp called “Proxima,” the scenario An Essay by a Proximian follows the protagonist's struggles with life in the air within a dystopian future, as well as the pursuit of infinite wind despite being a finite being. Through this work, SONG reflects on humanity's objectification of nature while challenging binary perspectives, ultimately revealing an ecological vision of new forms of coexistence.

3. LEE Haevan, 《Hidden Blooming》 (2F)
LEE Haevan explores the structures of borders and their socio-cultural implications in various geopolitical boundary regions, drawing from her upbringing near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). LEE highlights the paradox of buffer zones, which serve as heavily monitored military areas designed to prevent conflict and ease tensions between nations, while simultaneously allowing nature to thrive due to the absence of human intervention.

This exhibition features a series of landscape paintings, murals, and objects centered on the color orange, symbolizing invisible boundaries within the natural environment of buffer zones, alongside imagery evoking explosions. Through these works, LEE captures traces of lingering conflict within landscapes, presenting the contradictory nature of buffer zones where order and chaos coexist.

“2025 KUMHO YOUNG ARTIST 1”
2025.03.21 - 2025.04.27
Tue-Sun 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Kumho Museum of Art
18, Samcheong-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea

Ji Yeon Lee has been working as an editor for the media art and culture channel AliceOn since 2021 and worked as an exhibition coordinator at samuso (now Space for Contemporary Art) from 2021 to 2023.