Suki Seokyeong Kang
“Willow Drum Oriole”
Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul

One of the most traditional artists working in the field of contemporary art in Korea today is Suki Seokyeong Kang, though this can be hard to recognize when first encountering her artworks, which can take the forms of abstract paintings, geometric wall sculptures, dyed-reed panels hanging or lying on the floor, and are frequently combined as installations or in videos. Kang’s traditionalism is not a reactionary outlook. Rather, it is a foundational position of cultural continuity that undergirds her practice and its proliferating forms. Kang consciously inserts herself into a lineage of Korean visual art, music, poetry, and dance that spans the Joseon dynasty (1392–1897/1910) and crucially transcends Japan’s occupation (1910–45), the 1950–53 war, and extends to the 70 years of postwar division and modernization that continues to this day.