Suki Seokyeong Kang works with painting, sculpture, performance and video to meditate on the cultural traditions of Korea and how Korea’s history may impact individuals living today. Kang began her artistic career with painting, and this medium still serves as her guiding force. The artist religiously paints daily, gesturally marking everyday occurrences and emotions she experiences. This routine serves as a notational system which will give way to new bodies of work in sculpture, video or performance. In her sculptural works, Kang often blends materials with opposing characteristics, strong and sturdy steels, leathers and wood, meet fine threads, or reeds. Acting as a mediator, Kang understands the act of assemblage as a harmonistic process, working to bring together conflicting parties into one united new being. This pattern can be seen in Kang’s hwamunseok series, where Kang repetitively made traditional handwoven mats whose cultural legacy stems from the Goryeo period. The mats were delicately made with threads and reeds, each developing a distinct pattern and then, these matts were encased in brittle steel shells. Sparking conversations around individuality and societal limitations, Kang’s practice continues to wrestle the legacy of the past with the present, sensitively testing the parameters of self-expression. ...
