Poster image of 《Layer_ Tranquility & Depth》 © Art Project CO

Art Project C.O celebrates its upcoming opening in May with the exhibition 《Layer_ Tranquility & Depth》, featuring four artists—Kim Keun-Tai, Kim Tschoon Su, Kim Taek Sang, and SeungTaik Jang—each of whom constructs monochromatic abstraction through a distinct formal language.

This exhibition originates from an interest in Dansaekhwa, one of the major movements in Korean art history, and seeks to focus on a generation following the first generation of Dansaekhwa artists. Emphasizing the shared spirituality of these artists and their similarly stratified yet individually differentiated modes of expression, the exhibition takes its title 《Layer_ Tranquility & Depth》.


Kim Taek Sang, Aurora-204, 2019-2020 © Kim Taek Sang

Dansaekhwa internalizes Korean spiritual values grounded in a traditional view of nature that does not oppose natural processes. Its primary characteristics include the materiality of pigment—the tactile visual experience of the surface itself—the accumulation of time, and the repetitive act of building layers of paint over long durations. The resulting surface, completed through such repetitive and almost performative actions, appears empty in its monochrome simplicity while simultaneously conveying a sense of fullness, producing a paradoxical duality.

The four artists invited to this exhibition distinctly manifest these characteristics in their works. Whether through repeatedly applying paint by hand, allowing pigment diluted in water to permeate the canvas, or repeatedly dragging a brush while layering oil paint and stone powder, their processes produce results that evoke a profound depth within an apparent stillness and emptiness.

We hope this exhibition offers an opportunity to visually experience the textures of accumulated layers developed over many years by Kim Keun-Tai, Kim Tschoon Su, Kim Taek Sang, and SeungTaik Jang, and to reflect upon the differentiated tendencies of a new generation of Dansaekhwa practices.

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