Suki Seokyeong Kang

Suki Seokyeong Kang (born 1977, Seoul) employs painting, installation, video and choreography in an ever expanding vocabulary. She not only extracts narratives from her own body and history, but uses research to explore and reinterpret traditional forms and methodologies from Korean culture, weaving them together into a unique system of formal logic. Kang is particularly interested in contemporary translations of the concept of true view (眞景) as framework to question the position of an individual in today’s society. As her different bodies of work organically evolve and overlap inside her discursive practice the artist continually engages narrative frames, space and time to summon past voices through the perspective of the present. In this way her installation and videos present an axis of history around which individual experiences can be oriented and grow.

Suki Seokyeong Kang studied Eastern Painting at Ewha Womans University, Seoul, and Painting at the Royal College of Art, London. She is currently a professor of Korean Painting at Ewha Womans University. Recent exhibitions include MARCH, Kukje Gallery, Seoul (2024); Suki Seokyeong Kang: Willow Drum Oriole, Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2023); Square See Triangle, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul (2019-2020); Black Mat Oriole, ICA Philadelphia (2018); The Conscientious Objector (2018), MAK center for Art and Architecture, Los Angeles (2018); The 8th Climate, Gwangju Biennale (2016), As the Moon Waxes and Wanes, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (2016); Group Mobile, Villa Vassilieff, Paris (2016); Foot and Moon, Audio Visual Pavilion, Seoul (2015) and Grandmother Tower, Old House, Seoul (2013). She was awarded the Baloise Art Prize at Art Basel in 2018.

Credit:Kukje Gallery

Mat 120×165 #22-55 . Painted steel, woven dyed Hwamunseok, thread, wood frame, brass bolts, leather scraps .174(H) × 126(W) × 5(D) cm.2021-2022 In Mat 120 x 165 #22-55, the artwork is structured by the fusion of a traditional Hwamunseok mat and a square grid frame—where the Hwamunseok connects to the dance Chunaengmu, and the grid frame links to pictorial space. This dual structure reflects Suki Seokyeong Kang’s reinterpretation of Korean traditional forms through a unique visual logic. The work revisits Chunaengmu, a rare solo court dance from the Joseon Dynasty, known for its restrained and elegant movements that narrate time and emotion. Performed on a handwoven Hwamunseok, the dance's mat functions both as a stage and a physical boundary, metaphorically representing the limited individual space within society. Layering this woven mat with a square metal grid, Kang evokes a sense of volume and spatial tension. The rectangular frame serves simultaneously as a pictorial unit—holding the artist’s vision—and as a square from Jeongganbo, a musical score system encoding rhythm and duration. Conceptually and structurally combining the physical mat and the visual frame, the work represents individual presence in time and space, echoing the 81 abstracted gestures of the dance score. In this way, the Mat 120 x 165 series culminates in the symbolic number 81, suggesting being-together and harmony of different individuals.
Mat #24-10 .Painted steel, woven dyed Hwamunseok, thread, wood frame, brass bolts, leather scraps .163.2(H) × 123(W) × 8(D) cm / 81.6(H) × 61.5(W) × 8(D) cm each .2023-2024.In Mat #24-10, the artwork is structured by the fusion of a traditional Hwamunseok mat and a square grid frame—where the Hwamunseok connects to the dance Chunaengmu, and the grid frame links to pictorial space. This dual structure reflects Suki Seokyeong Kang’s reinterpretation of Korean traditional forms through a unique visual logic. The work revisits Chunaengmu, a rare solo court dance from the Joseon Dynasty, known for its restrained and elegant movements that narrate time and emotion. Performed on a handwoven Hwamunseok, the dance's mat functions both as a stage and a physical boundary, metaphorically representing the limited individual space within society. Layering this woven mat with a square metal grid, Kang evokes a sense of volume and spatial tension. The rectangular frame serves simultaneously as a pictorial unit—holding the artist’s vision—and as a square from Jeongganbo, a musical score system encoding rhythm and duration. Conceptually and structurally combining the physical mat and the visual frame, the work represents individual presence in time and space, occupying the time of life in one’s own position.
Mat 61×81 #23-71 .Painted steel, woven dyed Hwamunseok, nylon thread, thread, wood frame, brass bolts, leather scraps.81.6(H) × 61.5(W) × 8(D) cm. 2023.In Mat 61 x 81 #23-71, the artwork itself is structured by the fusion of a traditional Hwamunseok mat and a square grid frame—where the Hwamunseok connects to the dance Chunaengmu, and the grid frame links to pictorial space. This dual structure reflects Suki Seokyeong Kang’s reinterpretation of Korean traditional forms through a unique visual logic. The work revisits Chunaengmu, a rare solo court dance from the Joseon Dynasty, known for its restrained and elegant movements that narrate time and emotion. Performed on a handwoven Hwamunseok, the dance's mat functions both as a stage and a physical boundary, metaphorically representing the limited individual space within society. Layering this woven mat with a square metal grid, Kang evokes a sense of volume and spatial tension. The rectangular frame serves simultaneously as a pictorial unit—holding the artist’s vision—and as a square from Jeongganbo, a musical score system encoding rhythm and duration. Conceptually and structurally combining the physical mat and the visual frame, the work represents individual presence in time and space, occupying the time of life in one’s own position.
X