Opening Reception: Space and Surface Painting July 2, 2004

Artists: Yoon Soo Lee, Seung Ae Kim, Seongmin Ahn, Mi-Soon Kim, Heo Wook, Emna Zghal

Gallery Korea is pleased to announce the exhibition Space and Surface Painting, which will open on July 2 and run through August 1. The versatility of abstract form is evident in this exhibition of paintings and painted sculptures that explore the physical character of painting and its effectiveness as an agent of spatial illusion.

Yoon Soo Lee?s monochrome paintings have surfaces with a texture suggestive of goose bumps on skin. At the same time the subtle arrangement of clustered repeated elements indicates that these paintings might be topographical renderings of terrain where land meets the sea. Mi-Soon Kim also creates ambiguous abstract spaces in her paintings, which are made with traditional Asian ink and brush technique. In expansive compositions her repeated marks evoke such natural phenomena as leaves swirling in the wind or a massed flock of flying birds. Korean mulberry paper is folded and colored by Seongmin Ahn and then used as a repeated element in large sculptural compositions. The play between two and three dimensions reflects the artist?s interest in the convergence of the spiritual realm with the physical world.

The work of Seung Ae Kim is constructed with basic elements such as three colors, reductive shapes and small areas of graphic pattern. This rudimentary visual language is derived from random drawings the artist deconstructs and then recombines into complex compositions. Heo Wook (a.k.a. Wook Heo) paints large areas of color on large objects in such a loose, but precise way that the objects take on the character of three-dimensional paintings. Emna Zghal paints on colored woodblock prints that are mounted on canvas. The prints, which reproduce the grain of the wood, establish a complex ground on which the artist lays patches and patterns of color. This dense surface creates a pictorial space in which dynamic patterns evoke imaginary landscapes.

There will be an opening reception on Wednesday, July 2 from 6 ? 8 pm.
For further information, please contact Eunhee Yang at (212) 759-9550.
Gallery Korea is open from 10 am to 7 pm Monday to Friday and from 10 am to 4 pm on Saturday.