Art & Exhibition

EXHIBITION ARCHIVE 2019

2019 KAAF ART PRIZE


29 November 2019 – 24 January 2020

The exhibition of the Korea-Australia Arts Foundation (KAAF) Art Prize, organised by the KAAF and supported by the Korean Cultural Centre Australia (KCC) features 57 artworks of the finalists from 582 entries.

2019 Finalists: Vanessa Ashcroft, Bob Baird, Min-Woo Bang, Clare Brodie, Melanie Caple, Wei Bin Chen, Eun Ju Cho, Kee Sik Chung, Robert Coates, David Collins, Charles Cooper, Ryan Daffurn, Sally Davis, Fiona Dobrijevich, Tracy Dods, Viola Dominello, Joe Furlonger, Keith Fyfe, Jane Guthleben, Junko Hagiwara, Craig Handley, Julie Harris, Garth Henderson, Peta Hinton, James Jones, Linda Joyce, Daniel Kim, Jonathan Kim, Phoebe Kim, Jolon Larter, Nerissa Lea, Michael Lindeman, Darcy McCrae, James McGrath, Lyn Merrington, Paul Miller, Guy Morgan, Catherine O’Donnell, Jennifer O’Young, David Pavich, Colin Rhodes, Brian Robinson, Adriana Seserko, Patrick Shirvington, Liz Shreeve, Vipoo Srivilasa, Colleen Stapleton, Andrew Sullivan, Robyn Sweaney, Claire Tozer, Morgan Veness, Savanhdary Vongpoothorn, Gracie Ward Napaltjarri, Maryanne Wick, Sairi Yoshizawa, Alan Young, Grace Zhang

The KAAF was first established in 2013 and has endeavoured to support multiculturalism in Australia. It seeks to do so by providing opportunities for various cultures to liaise in the form of visual arts.

2019 Judges

Mr. John McDonald   Art Critic/Columnist, SMH

Former Prof. Suh Yongsun   SNU, South Korea

Mr. Oliver Smith   Lecturer, SCA

 

Congratulations!

Winner  $20,000 Acquisitive

The Churning by Julie Harris

Highly Commended  $2,000 each Non-acquisitive

The Course of True Love by Vipoo Srivilasa

Vivid by Colleen Stapleton

Judges’ Commendation

Shoal by Fiona Dobrijevich

Do You Eat Kimchi Everyday? by Phoebe Kim

Union Street Window #2 by Catherine O’Donnell

THE CHURNING
BY JULIE HARRIS

THE COURSE OF TRUE LOVE
BY VIPOO SRIVILASA

VIVID
BY COLLEEN STAPLETON

SHOAL
FIONA DOBRIJEVICH

DO YOU EAT KIMCH EVERYDAY?
BY PHOEBE KIM

UNION STREET WINDOW #2
BY CATHERINE O’DONNELL

PLAYLIST


Featuring a beautiful range of metalcraft and jewellery by 7 local artists; Bridget Kennedy, Daehoon Kang, Jin Ah Jo, Joungmee Do, Kenny Son, Leonie Simpson and Vicki Mason, Playlist showcases contemporary craft practices in response to the personal experiences of each artist. Like a variety of playlist depending upon the mood, situation and taste of the day, each work is diverse yet individual and enables audiences to investigate an artist’s intention in-depth.

Artists; Bridget Kennedy, Daehoon Kang, Jin Ah Jo, Joungmee Do, Kenny Son, Leonie Simpson, Vicki Mason

Bridget Kennedy(Sydney)’s practice extends from jewellery to installation. Kennedy focuses on making and exhibiting her works to reveal community value such as environmental fragility, materiality, impermanence, choice and exchange. For her Ocean Jewel series, Kennedy incorporates recycled sterling silver and plastic marine debris into her practices, exploring the relationship with our seas.

Daehoon Kang(Melbourne) employs the fluidity of organic sculpture objects using the traditional silversmithing techniques. Often his work is imbued with Korean wit and humour, and overlaid with elements of his own experiences that he’s had since moving to Australia. In his practice, an essential element is the fusion of Korean and Australian cultures that result in a universal visual language.

Jin Ah Jo(Melbourne) forms perforated mild steel into sharp geometric structures. This transforms the steel from its manufacturing origins into a wearable piece of contemporary jewellery that explores form and space. Recently, Jo has introduced colours-blue, red and green on her works and mixes them with matte black steel and precious materials.

In response to her cultural backgrounds, Joungmee Do(Melbourne) employs the traditional Korean metal inlay technique (Iypsa) to create the visual textural aspects associated with fabrics, which give a deeper surface enrichment to metal surfaces. Do incorporates these skills in a contemporary way, which makes her work extraordinary. With an eminently sensitive balance of colour and form, Do reinterprets traditional methods and explores new forms of jewellery and metalcraft.

Playing with metal as main materials, Kenny Son(Sydney) makes everyday objects with simple forms and functionality. After mentorship program with Korean traditional metal craft master Sung-joon Cho, Son widely employs traditional and unique metalcraft techniques. As object designer-maker, Son explores the ideas between decorative & functional and the ability to transcend both craft & design mediums.

Leonie Simpson(Sydney)’s tiny yet elegant rings and neckless of the stone Mookaite which is native and exclusive Australia have a beautiful combination with such varied colours and patterns from the nature. Facet series of rings are a study of the rough textured nature and beauty of rocks and stones in Australia.

Vicki Mason(Melbourne)’s work references her passion for plants as subject. As a jewellery artist, Mason employs metal techniques using plants as metaphors to represent notions of place, belongings and the life cycle. She combines flexible pedestrian plastics, textile processes and materials alongside metal and metal techniques to create a cross media/material discourse that works across traditional classifications of what jewellery and textiles should be.

 

Playlist

11 October – 15 November

Korean Cultural Centre Australia Gallery

TAKE ( ) AT FACE VALUE

Take ( ) at face value explores various aspects of modern Korean society through formats of contemporary art underpinning the stereotypes and bias that evolve around us. Spanning mixed media, photography, performance and painting, this exhibition will question the universal concepts that are revealed to us at face value. It is a rare opportunity to witness works from established contemporary Korean artists that have not had much exposure in the Australian art scene.

Korea is often described as a ‘fast-growing economy’, this can be seen in its economic boom, the global expansion of K-pop culture and its strong IT industry. This, in turn, has labelled the country to be associated with the term ‘hasty’ to the Western world. The facet of exponential growth permeates the overall Korean society, and the mentality of ‘haste’ has become a continuum in the daily lives of Koreans. ‘Nominalism’ raises a question of paradox against this universal perception by asserting that although universality appears to define a particular object or phenomenon, it is nothing than a mere ‘nomina’ or an abstraction behind the perception. This is the recurring ideal within the artworks in Take ( ) at Face Value. By critically disassembling the abstract nature of universality, we are able to reveal a more honest and truthful representation.

Artists
Kim Beom, Minja Gu, SaSa, Sulki and Min, Min Oh, Oan Kim, Choonman Jo, Ingo Baumgarten, Joo Jae Hwan, Nayoungim & Gregory Maass

Curator
Kim Kim Gallery

 

Exhibition Information

28 June – 29September

Korean Cultural Centre Australia Gallery

 

Performances

Minja Gu, The Authentic Quality: Spicy Seafood Noodle

22 June, 2-4pm, West Space (MEL)

 Minja Gu, Past Nowadays
29 June, 11:30am-1:30pm, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (SYD)

Byungjun Kwon, This Is Me (이것이 나다)
26 June, 6-8pm, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art (SYD)

 

‘Take ( ) at Face Value’ and performances are presented in partnership with the Korean Cultural Centre Australia, Kim Kim Gallery, 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art and West Space, and sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism with support from the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange (KOFICE) as part of the Traveling Korean Arts Project.

 

Artist Biographies

Kim Beom is a key figure of his generation in South Korea, his ideas based in the shift created when image-making moves from language to physical form. His works challenge conventional ideas that are considered as social norms through fictional images using various mediums such as drawing, video, painting, installation. Born in 1963, Seoul, Kim Beom attended Seoul National University during South Korea’s student democratization movement and obtained both a BFA and an MFA there in 1988 and 1986. He then moved to New York City where he completed a second MFA at the School of Visual Arts in 1991. Kim’s work is included in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Cleveland Museum of Art; and the Walker Art Centre, Minneapolis in the United States; the Museum für Kommunikation, in Bern, Switzerland; and the Seoul Museum of Art, the Ho-Am Art Museum, Artsonje Centre, and the Horim Museum, in Seoul, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, in Gwachun, Korea. Most recently he was exhibited at the 9th Asia Pacific Triennia of Contemporary Art, QAGOMA. (sources: ocula.com)

Minja Gu’s works appear frail and intimate, and almost indistinguishable from everyday life. Gu is predominately interested in what society uses and then discards. She recycles back into presence and with grace, wit and poetry the many supposedly valueless remnants of daily consumerism, such as leftover coffee cups or plastic bags. In addition to her physical artistic production she also initiates activities that run in parallel, or could be considered parasitic to everyday participation in society. Most recently she was exhibited at the Korea Artist Prize, National Museum of Modern And Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea (2018) and Performance x 4A, Art Central, Hong Kong (2018).

Byungjun Kwon is a musician and performance artist and pioneering figure of South Korea’s underground music scene. Beginning his career in the early 1990s as a singer/songwriter, Kwon released seven albums prior to relocating to Amsterdam, The Netherlands to study sonology and work for STEIM as a hardware engineer, a centre for the research and development of new electronic musical instruments. Since returning to Korea in 2011 he has expanded his practice into contemporary performance art, composing and performing experimental audio-visual works. Recent projects include This Is Me, Edinburg International Festival 2013, Edinburgh, Scotland (2013); Artificial Garden, Mediacity Seoul 2012: Spell on You, Seoul, South Korea (2012); and My Instrument My Sound, Culture Station Seoul 284, Seoul, South Korea (2012), alongside several electronic instrument projects at various workshops. (sources: 4A.com.au)

SaSa expresses his interest by adapting and re-interpreting ready-made objects and circumstances.
By enumerating significant incidents which matches the standards of the ‘picked’ incidents or laying out happenings that are derived from a memorable event within history couldn’t have been possible if it had not been for the accumulation of his knowledge and its appropriate usage generated by his life as a collector. In other words, his life itself is the motive power in connecting efficient loop between art, society and his personal life. Most recently his solo show ‘Ungmang’ was exhibited at the Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea (2018). (sources: kukjegallery.com)

Sulki and Min are graphic designers working around Seoul, South Korea. They met at Yale University where they both earned their MFA degrees. After working as researchers at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, they returned to Korea in 2005 to start their own practice. Since then, they have created graphic identities, promotional materials, publications and websites for many cultural institutions and individuals. They have participated in numerous group exhibitions in Korea and abroad, at such institutions as Arko Art Center, Seoul; Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco; Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York; Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris; Plateau, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul; and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon and Seoul.

Min Oh earned a BM in piano performance at Seoul National University and a BFA in industrial design and visual design at the same school. Oh also received a MFA in graphic design from Yale University. The artist served as an artist-in-residency for the New York Artists Alliance; Rijksakademie in Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France (with support of Samsung Foundation) and received the sixth Doosan Artist Award. Oh has held solo exhibitions such as 1 2 3 4 at Doosan Gallery in 2016, Trio at D Project Space, Daelim Museum in 2015, The Suite at De Nederlandsche Bank Art Gallery in Amsterdam in 2012 and has participated in exhibitions held at MMCA, Seoul Art Space Mullae, and Kukje Gallery.

Oan Kim studied art at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and musical writing at the National Conservatory of Music in Paris. Over the years his photographic work has developed an approach of the medium that is not strictly documentary, nor purely conceptual or pictorialist, but which is informed by all of the above, re-questioning the balance of these elements with each new series he produces. He has had more than a dozen gallery and museum solo exhibitions since 2000 in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, Seoul, and Macao, and has taken part in many group shows around the world.

Choonman Jo is a photographer focusing on the scenes of heavy industries. Born in 1956, he began to work as a welder in Hyundai Heavy Industry in 1974, which he now records in photograph. He is living in Ulsan, the Southern city in Korea and perhaps one of the biggest industrial cities in the world. Full of all kinds of heavy industries ranging from ship building to chemistry, Ulsan is a ground for Choonman Jo, photographic work. Educated in photography only very late in his career, he developed his own sense of photography totally on his own. (sources: kimkimgallery.com)

Ingo Baumgarten, assistant professor of the painting department, Hongik University, Seoul, Korea, is interested in commenting, often ironically, on banal aspects of everyday life by representing them as motives of his art. He is interested in demonstrating his individual view of the world around him without glorifying or condemning it. He would consider his work as a painter successful if it enables the spectator to adopt a more complex and altered perception of his surroundings afterwards. Baumgarten uses paint rather than photographs to portray these objects and details because it provides a better medium for formulating an individual point of view. This point of view, created by the artist’s hand, has a personal and human quality about it that intimately connects with the spectator. Most recently he was exhibited at the Pyonchang Culture Olympic DMZ Art Fiesta, Kangwondo, South Korea (2018) (sources: brunodavidgallery.com)

Joo Jaehwan started studying Western painting at the College of Fine Arts of Hongik University but in the first year (1960), he dropped out. Since he first appeared on the arts scene in 1980 on the occasion of the exhibition ‘Reality and Remarks’, he has participated in grass-roots activist art movements. He has held four individual exhibitions and exhibited his works at major collective exhibitions. In 2000s, Joo is working more actively than ever. The artist deems that the sense of freedom young artists feel from his various works is creating opportunities for them. He has held various solo exhibitions in Art Sonje Center in 2001, Alternative Space Sarubia in 2007, the 50th Venice Biennale in 2003, and many more. He was awarded The 10th Korean Artist Award in 2001, and Honorary Mention, Prize for the Promotion of the Arts in Gwangju Biennale in 2002. (sources: hakgojae.com)

Nayoungim & Gregory Maass first crossed paths in 1991 while students at École national supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Since 2004 they have collaborated as an artist duo, developing an oeuvre characterized by unexpected juxtapositions of ready-made objects in often satirical works of sculpture, installation and painting. Their work encourages viewers to critically reconsider contemporary pop culture, shining a humorous light on aspects of everyday life and perceptions of reality. Most recently they were exhibited at the ‘REPROSPECTIVE’, Sungkok Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea (2019).

A SCHOLAR'S FEAST: OLD AND NEW

Inspired by the spirit of Confucian Scholars (Seonbi) in Cheongju city, A scholar’s feast: Old and New illustrates traditional and contemporary Korean crafts related to the food and tableware. Spanning leather, glass, clay, fibre, wood, textile and brassware, it focuses to explore the value of Korean craft culture, and the beauty of the handmade.

 

Especially, Banchan deongsok and Sinseon-ju are displayed in order to introduce the traditional values and local food culture of Chungcheong province. Banchan deongsok is a Korean recipe book handed down from the 1910s, written by the daughter-in-law of Scholar’s family who lived in Cheongju area. With a history of 400 years, Sinseon-ju, traditional Korean alcohol, was enjoyed by scholars during the Joseon Dynasty. Made with medical herbs, Sinseon-ju was believed to rejuvenate the body.

In company with a range of workshops, this exhibition will provide an opportunity for audiences to experience the local craftsmanship and food culture in Cheongju city.

This exhibition is hosted by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and co-organised by the Korean Foundation for International Cultural Exchange, Cheongju city and Cheongju Craft Biennale Organization Committee and the Korean Cultural Centre Australia.

8 Feb – 19 Apr 2019

Korean Cultural Centre Australia Gallery