“Line and Smoke” Installation view at Hakgojae Gallery ©Hakgojae GalleryHakgojae Gallery presents JANG Jaemin (b. 1984)’s solo exhibition “Line and Smoke” through March 2. This exhibition features new acrylic gouache paintings created by the artist during the year 2023.
JANG Jaemin takes a new approach to landscape and still-life painting. He does not follow the Western practice of treating the subjects he wants to paint in a scientific (objective) manner, nor does he place value on reaching the elusive and challenging realm of vital energy. The artist portrays the pure, initial state of encountering landscapes and facing objects, where everything is not fully understood and remains in an ambiguous state.
He aims to reconsider all truths of both the East and the West and return to the very beginning. In this process, the landscapes or objects the artist intends to paint seem to disappear like smoke, floating in the air on the canvas. Naming this phenomenon as a disappearing brushstroke, the artist titled “Line and Smoke”. JANG Jaemin’s artistic world constructs a new realm not seen before, heralding a new direction in the Korean art scene.
JANG Jaemin was born in 1984 in Korea. He received his BFA and MFA from Hongik University, Department of Painting. He held solo exhibitions at Kumho Museum of Art, POSCO Art Museum, Boan1942, Project Space SARUBIA.
Major group exhibitions include “Scope and Scape” (2023, Mimesis Art Museum, Paju), “Pépinière 19” (2019, Domaine de Kerguéhennec, Morbihan, France), “Kumho Young Artists: The 69 Times of Sunrise” (2019, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul), “NEXT CODE 2019” (2019, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon), and “Our Awesome Moments” (2015, HITE Collection, Seoul).
In 2015, he received the 4th Chongkundang Yesuljisang, and in 2014, he was selected for the 36th JoongAng FineArts Prize. His works are in the collections of Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Korea National Maritime Museum, Kumho Museum of Art, and Mimesis Art Museum.
