“Your Present” Installation view ©Pace GalleryFrom June 17 to July 23, Pace Gallery is featuring Your Present, a collection of new works by Korean female artists, in a new ground-floor exhibition space equipped for immersive and experiential artworks. The artists in the exhibition use both physical and virtual mediums to tell tales about the current state of the world and its relationship to the present.
In her works, Ji Hye Yeom (b. 1982) reflects on the impact of societal events, such as colonialism, capitalism, exploitation of natural resources, and viruses, that have had a profound effect on the present. In her video work Symbioplot (2020), Yeom imagines the ability of all living things on earth to coexist by depicting plants and the sky.
Heemin Chung (b. 1987) explores the expanding nature of digital images and the manner in which they are experienced to suggest new painting possibilities. Two of Chung’s works in the exhibition incorporate acrylic, gel, and surgical steel chain on canvas. This is to further establish a parallel between traditional paintings and digital media by experimenting with the forms and materials employed in each
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After immigrating from Korea to the United States in 1997, Sang-ah Choi (b. 1971) expresses her feelings regarding exposure to an alien environment, as well as identity issues. In drawings that incorporate Korean and American popular culture, Greek mythology, and Korean historical painting, specifically Sip-Jang Saeng Do, the artist attempts to depict the accumulation of multiple layers of experience with the two cultures. The video work highlights how each of the series’ drawings relates to and coheres with the others.
Hyun-Sook Hong Lee (b. 1958) has been an active eco-feminist artist for the past 30 years. By depicting the symbiotic relationship between humans, nature, and inanimate objects, Hong Lee addresses the oppression of nature and women in patriarchal structures and systems through her artwork. During the pandemic, the video What You Are Touching Now (2020) was created. Through narration, audio, and video, the artist presents the immersive experience of touching a statue in a temple in Bukhansan.
