Kate Oh Gallery is pleased to announce “Liaison”, a three-person show that brings together three Korean Artists: Kate Oh Trabulsi, Sung Won Yun, and Jongseung Lee. The following genres will be exhibited: Korean Traditional Painting called ‘Minhwa’; Korean Abstract Painting infused with Western art practice; and Contemporary Abstract Painting.

Kate Oh uses traditional materials and techniques to explore Minhwa. Particularly in this show, her recent pieces of the “Chochungdo” series will be on display. Chochungdo is a painting genre initiated by the Korean poet and artist, Sin Saimdang, in the 16th century that depicts plants, fruits, and insects. Kate’s interpretation of classical Chochungdo invites viewers to contemplate on the small natural world she created. Her artwork depicts the intimate relationship between insects, fruit, and vegetation, of which she painted with a delicate lightness of touch. Abstract butterflies, realistic wasps, beetles, frogs, and praying mantises are busy in the foliage. Two mice on all fours are scattered among the leaves while dressed in bride and groom clothing, sharing a piece of melon. Wit, often partially concealed, plays on this classical genre. The humor is vividly reflected in these pieces by Kate.

Sung Won explores the fundamental question of the homogenization of culture, ecology, and geology in the congeries of time. Through her continuous artistic experiments, Sung Won seeks to evoke the congeries of time in an emotional space by employing dynamic images of organic shapes. Sung Won finds life forms floating in a universe, a spatiotemporal construction with infinite temporal layers of beings. As the layers accumulate, the meaning of each layer emerges and finds a new integration, pointing to a universal synthesis. She feels that this event recurs over time, creating new meanings: the organisms floating in the universe interact with a dynamic trajectory linking the past, present, and future. The monochromatic-looking surfaces of her paintings are developed by the accumulation of many layers of subtly varying chromatic compositions, which represent the amalgamation of memories or congeries of time. In the congeries of being, the individual heterogeneities become part of an inseparable whole.

Jongseung Lee presents the abstract painting series “Chaos”, which combines Eastern and Western ideas. Using various colors, the artist applies the ‘Decollage’ technique (i.e., instead of an image being built upon all parts of existing images, it is created by cutting, tearing away, or otherwise removing pieces of an original image). This process is then followed by the creation of new imagery, which leads to the artist’s main theme “CHAOS- chaos & cosmos”. Mr.Lee interprets ‘Chaos and Order’ and portrays the theme of the world before the creation of Heaven and Earth.