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Shinduk Kang / 강신덕
Heaven and Earth(Sea)
Screenprint on Paper
41 3/10 × 29 1/2 in / 105 × 75 cm
Drawing and printmaking offer important aspects of Shinduk Kang’s practice. The artist’s first major museum survey in 2005 at the Gwang-Ju Art Museum in Korea, started with the first exhibition room showing her screenprint on metal mesh, while the third exhibition room, which was the final room, was dedicated to screenprint works on paper. Her screenprints give a similar impression to her sculptural works, expressing a rhythmic and colorful energy.
As Kang develops her work from one medium to another, she takes her themes and makes variations on them, as evident in her Heaven and Earth series. She gathers from her granite sculptures the concept of their forms and places them in a new, two-dimensional environment, sharing space with her Korean culture. With these sculptures reinterpreted as prints, they join in dialogue with the Korean alphabet to arrange a melodic garden. She connects this series to both her cultural heritage, and the development of her artistic practice. Vowels in the Korean language reflect the idea in Eastern philosophy that heaven, earth, and humans are all one. The circles symbolize the Sky, a horizontal line symbolizes Earth, and a vertical line represents a Human. This unification is also apparent by the way Kang connects the various mediums she works with, oscillating between works on paper and lenticulars, or sculptures and drawings, while creating added meaning to each work.
Her playfulness begins with the existence of one large structure, but is often broken up into sections, pieces, or rearranged to construct new forms. These new forms executed using colored paper give the impression of entering a garden full of gorgeous plants. This secret space, where the pleasure of life is nurtured abundantly, can be said as reflecting her positive reasons for life.