|
Kwang Young Chun is a Korean artist best known for his textural, crystalline paper sculptures.
Born in Hongchun, South Korea in 1944, Chun completed his studies at Hong-Ik University and in the early 1970's he moved to the United States where he obtained his Masters at Philadelphia College of Art.
It was this move that heavilty influenced Chun's early works as he veered towards American and European Abstract Expressionism. He stated that it simply "seemed to be the best way to freely express my surprise and sadness at witnessing the huge gap between idea and reality".
|
|
The development of Chun's signature Aggregation technique was sparked by childhood memories of seeing medicinal herbs wrapped in mulberry paper, known as hanji, tied into small packages and hung from the ceiling of the local doctor's office.
He became intrigued with the idea of merging the techniques, materials and sentiment of his Korean heritage with the conceptual freedom he experienced during his Western education.
|
|
Each Aggregation is composed of thousands of individual mulberry paper parcels, carefully toned with tea or coloured pigments.
Over the years, the pieces have become more colourful and evolved in complexity and scale, but the use of mulberry paper remains at the core of Chun's practice.
Although imbued with the spirit of Korean tradition and history, Chun's work, with its intricate, abstract compositions, is grounded in a purely contemporary context.
|
