Kang Ik-Joong
Moon Jar

Kang Ik-Joong
Moon Jar

In partnership with 19th Chicago Humanities Festival 2008, Andrew Bae Gallery proudly presents the works of Korean-American artist, Ik-joong Kang. Kang's mosaic-like installations consist of hundreds, or sometimes thousands, of 3 x 3 in. small drawings to tell stories of community, culture, and human interrelation.

Kang has exhibited widely, including a solo exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Philip Morris, New York in 1996; a two-person show with Nam June Paik at the Whitney Museum of American Art at Champion, Connecticut; and group exhibitions at The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Ludwig Museum, Cologne, Germany, and the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea. In the spring of 1997, he was awarded the Special Merit prize in the 47th Venice Biennale.

This time at Andrew Bae Gallery in Chicago, Kang aims to visualize the dream of Korean reunification in the iconic motif of Moon Jar, Chosen Dynasty's austere white porcelain, which likens its formation to the future unification of North and South Korea.

The Moon Jar reflects Korea's Neo-Confucian virtues of purity, clarity, humility, and self-expression. Its rounded figure exudes the feeling of cosmic compassion necessary for a balanced earth. It is made into two parts at the beginning, upper part and lower part, and as both parts are attached right before going through firing process in the kiln, it finally becomes the one piece of the united Moon Jar. The exhibition shows nearly 2500 Moon Jar paintings in variable sizes from 3 x 3 in. to 2 pieces of 6 x 6 ft. The exhibition also includes part of Amazed World children's paitings, rearranged for the show.

Ik-joong Kang will be present at the opening for Inexorable Dream; a Korean Affair, 5 to 8 pm of Nov. 7, 2008 at Andrew Bae Gallery.

Andrew Bae Gallery, Chicago. Nov 7 - Nov 29, 2008. www.andrewbaegallery.com

Kang Ik-Joong
Moon Jar

Kang Ik-Joong
Moon Jar