Chun Kwang Young

Sundaram Tagore is pleased to present the first exhibition of new work by acclaimed artist Chun Kwang Young since his 2022 Venice Biennale exhibition Times Reimagined, which showcased forty large-scale reliefs, sculptures and installations.

For this exhibition, the artist (b. 1944, South Korea) has created a powerful body of work that suggests the next stage in the stylistic evolution of his acclaimed Aggregations, tactile, abstract assemblages made from thousands of triangular forms wrapped in hanji, traditional Korean mulberry paper.

Chun’s intricate compositions, characterized by jagged surfaces, combine the techniques, materials and sentiment of his Korean heritage with the conceptual freedom he experienced during his Western education.

Early works in the series, often referred to as moonscapes, were primarily black and white or sepia-toned, lending them the appearance of deserts or lunar terrain. Chun then began to inject color into his compositions, beginning with contained areas of indigo and vermillion nestled within subtly textured monochrome expanses. Eventually, the palette expanded to include a spectrum of vivid color, which Chun deployed in vast, rolling gradients or patterns articulated in complementary hues. The colorful works became increasingly dimensional over time, with robustly textured surfaces.

In this newest body of work, Chun combines elements from the colorful series with the muted, homogeneous moonscapes for the first time. He also plays with shape, introducing an organic form that stands apart from his familiar circular and rectangular wall-hung works. Anchoring the exhibition is one of the artist’s signature large-scale installations, reminiscent of the colossal sculptures featured in his Venice Biennale show.