LONDON.- For her first solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac, and her first presentation to take place in the UK, Seoul-based artist Heemin Chung presents a new body of paintings, sculptures and video. Titled UMBRA in reference to the deep shadows cast by celestial bodies, the exhibition is an exploration of states of loss.
Chung employs her signature use of gel medium to create textured canvases that reimagine the conventions of the traditional painting form. She is inspired by the objects that she encounters on the streets of Seoul: from manmade urban detritus to elements belonging to the natural world. Sourcing digital images of similar objects, she addresses the process of material loss that occurs when these three-dimensional forms are flattened into two-dimensional data. She translates this imagery onto her canvases, which are then built up with painted additions. Using gel medium she creates semi-opaque, membrane-like sheets – the surfaces of which are also at times digitally printed or painted – which are draped, tucked and pinched onto the canvases.
'In the process of transferring inkjet onto the acrylic body [gel medium] or directly printing onto the modeling surface, some details disappear due to surface irregularities,' Chung explains. The resultant works explore the gap between technological and physical realities as the original objects are echoed as digital images, reconfiguring the conventions of the still life.
Meditating on the theme of death, elsewhere in the exhibition Chung presents a series of multimedia sculptures that reimagines the traditional Korean funeral ritual Chobun. This practice, predominantly performed in South Jeolla Province, is intended to free the soul from the body. It entails a process of tying the body to the ground or trees until the skeleton is exposed through the passing of time and subsequently buried. The Chobun ritual is often accompanied with a traditional Korean play, the Dasiraegi, which is reinterpreted by Chung in a new video work. In reference to Dasiraegi the sculptures are presented on a raised LED platform to emulate the idea of a stage, casting the gallery as an arena for her art.
Heemin Chung was born in Seoul, South Korea, where she continues to live and work. She received her MFA in Fine Arts from the Korea National University of Arts, Seoul in 2015, and has since exhibited her work in solo exhibitions at DOOSAN Art Center (2023); Sindoh Art Space, Seoul (2022); Museumhead, Seoul (2021); Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul (2018); and PS Sarubia, Seoul (2016). She has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including those at WESS, Seoul (2023); Nam-Seoul Museum of Art (2021); Eulji Art Center, Seoul (2021); Soorim Art Center, Seoul (2020); Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan (2020); Rainbowcube, Seoul (2020); Platform L, Seoul (2019); Boan 1942, Seoul (2019); National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon (2019); Hite Collection, Seoul (2018); Korean Cultural Center, Hong Kong (2018); and Archive Bomm, Seoul (2017).
Chung was awarded the DOOSAN Arts Award in 2022 and has held the SeMA Nanji Residency, Seoul (2022); Sindoh Artist Support Program (2020); and MMCA Residency Goyang (2020), and her paintings and sculptures are housed in public institutions including the DOOSAN Art Center, Seoul; Art Bank, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul; Seoul Museum of Art; and Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul.
