“Magma” Installation view ©ARARIO GALLERY SEOULARARIO GALLERY SEOUL presents a solo exhibition, “Magma” by HWANG Sueyon, on view through April 20.
HWANG has been thinking about and sculpturalizing the relationships and changes that occur between the materiality of materials and her own body. The Artist pays attention to the strange physical phenomena that occur in the process of stroking, touching, and rubbing various materials around her with her body. This exhibition consists of three three-dimensional sculptures and ten flat sculptures that HWANG has recently produced.
The works are the result of the artist’s reinterpretation of social media short-form content as a physical performance. The artist uses short-form videos, which are shortened to less than one minute in length to meet the public’s interest in boring contents such as the complex process of manufacturing industrial products or the slow daily life of animals in nature. The artist takes on the labor of reproducing the images in the videos as physical sculptures. In the actual work process, the images are reinterpreted according to the artist’s physical capabilities and the physical conditions of reality. The works in this exhibition are an extension of the artist’s existing body of work, which is based on her interest in the materiality of materials and the performativity of sculpture, and are characterized by various variations in expression and technique.
HWANG Sueyon was born in Seoul, Korea, and received her BFA from Seoul National University of Science and Technology in 2007, and her MFA from Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Graduate School in 2010. She has held solo exhibitions at Hakgojae Design Project Space (Seoul, 2021), Doosan Gallery (New York, USA, 2019), Doosan Gallery (Seoul, 2019), and Kumho Museum of Art (Seoul, 2017). Her work has been featured in group exhibitions at the Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, 2022), Art Sonje Center (Seoul, 2021), SeMA Bunker (Seoul, 2020), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (Seoul, 2019), Doosan Gallery (New York, USA, 2019), Doosan Gallery (Seoul, 2017), and Kumho Museum of Art (Seoul, 2019; 2015; 2013). HWANG was selected for “Young Korean Artists 2019” at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea. She was selected as a resident artist of SeMA Nanji Residency in 2021 and Doosan Residency New York in 2019. Her works are in the collections of the Seoul Museum of Art and other institutions.
