Lucy: Hong Jang Oh
CHAPTER II 2020.10.22 - 2020.12.5
CHAPTER II YARD 2021.2.24 - 2021.4.3
Jang Oh Hong has produced disparate figures and installations by combining non-artistic materials and expanding their primary use and function with elaborate workmanship. Hong addresses a constant question about how we doubtlessly perceive images and figures we come across on a daily basis and he ultimately asks us to broaden our solidified perspective. This exhibition will not only introduce his new series but offer the audience a great opportunity to examine an outcome of his sincere reflections upon the way his works are presented.
The exhibition title, Lucy, is polysemous. It is a feminine given name originated from the Latin word, Lucius, with the meaning as of ‘light’ and it also refers to a few of monumental moments of discovery in human history. For example, the name has been designated to several hundred pieces of fossilized bone of Australopithecus afarensis first discovered in Hadar, Ethiopia in 1974 and to a white dwarf about 50 light-years away from Earth discovered in 2004 since it consists of crystallized carbon, the main element of diamonds. Thus, it indicates that Hong considered the exhibition as an inflection point; in other words, his previous works attained aspects of narrative by being interconnected to specific themes and concepts whereas the new body of works stresses an independent massage of each piece so that it can consequently deliver a wider aesthetic spectrum.
Each work is an imaginary substitute achieved by taking apart, overlaying and transforming the particular structures which appeared in forms of the natural (organisms and the inanimate) and the artificial(machines). It can be understood as a hybrid bio-model invented by the artist’s creative experiments at the border between reality and fiction. Jang Oh Hong has paid consistent attention to how technology has been establishing the current physical reality and this interest has enabled him to optimize coincidence occurred when artificial interventions are applied to the diverse media whose visual and physical properties are different such as aluminum, transparent or semi-transparent PVC panels, reflective fabric, wires and marbles. Constructing a new entity is always a non-linear and impromptu process and uncertainty inevitably remains in the final result of creation. In this context, the multiple possibilities of numerous physical conditions of matter including irregular arrangements, sophisticated symmetry, natural slack due to gravitational pull and its opposing reaction are a motive and materials for his practice.
As mentioned above, every piece of his works is displayed in a wooden box. The presentation can be seen as an adaptation of which contemporary art museums take full advantage of their storages to use them as an exhibition space. A virtue of this approach is providing an environment where a spectator can concentrate on a piece separate from the other works. Displaying a certain object in a case is often employed to maintain the original historical and cultural significance of the subject for the purpose of preservation and research. Taking account of the shapes of Hong’s works which are manifestations of the artist’s imagination or hybrid assemblages of multi-media, the installation style adopting the distinct model seems to be considerably effective to suggest a new approach of engaging with the works and to give them intended dignity.
Jang Oh Hong (b.1972) completed a BA and MA in Sculpture at Chung Ang University and MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. His practice has been featured in solo exhibitions at Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (2018); Amado Art Space (2014); Art Sonje Center Lounge Project (2012). Hong has attended group shows at multiple art establishments located in South Korea and the UK including Seoul Museum of Art (2003); Gyeonggi Creation Center (2018); Sungkok Art Museum (2004); SpaceK (2014); The Woodmill (2010-11). He was also selected as one of the resident artists at the Gyeonggi Creation Center Residency (2018-19) and was granted the Art Supports Program of the Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture (2014).
