"Into the Bamboo "
August 2 - 12, 2005
Gallery Korea at the Korean Cultural Center New York
(460 Park Ave. 6th Floor, New York, NY 10022)
Opening reception: August 2, 6-8 pm
Gallery Korea presents Into the Bamboo, an exhibition of a series of bamboo theme paintings by Jeong Young Bark, from August 2 to August 12. An opening reception will be held on Tuesday, August 2 with the artist present.
The paintings in Into the Bamboo represent a reinterpretation of traditional Korean theme in ink painting.
Traditionally, bamboo was a beloved art subject. It represented one of the "Four Gracious Plants" along with plum, orchid, and chrysanthemum. Bamboo was especially popular because of the straightness of its cane and its everlasting greenness, and was considered a proper subject to express the power of brushstrokes.
Ms. Bark adds a modern sensibility to the tradition of ink painting by converting branches and leaves of bamboo into abstract shapes, adding colors to the traditionally black and white images, and collaging colored patches of silk onto the Korean papers. She avoids the fixed formats of traditional Korean paintings, and uses various formats and widths of supports.
By combining lines and colors, figures and nonfigures, Bark pursues her theme of nature and harmonization through her bamboo series.
A graduate of Chung-ang University's Department of Oriental Painting, Beijing Central Arts Institute, and Tokyo College of Arts, Jeong Young Bark was awarded special prize in the 1993 Korean Painting Grand Exhibition. Ms. Bark currently teaches at Kangwon University, Department of Art.
Please contact curator Yu Jin Hwang for further information at 212-759-7550 or nyarts@koreanculture.org. Gallery Korea is open from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm Monday through Friday, and 10:00 am to 4:00 pm Saturday during exhibitions. Gallery Korea, run by the Korean Cultural Service New York, presents exhibitions devoted to diverse aspects of Korean and Korean diasporic culture, as well as group shows featuring international artists.