Introduction of the artist:

HAN Kyung Woo (South Korea)

    Born in 1979, Seoul, Korea. Selected solo exhibitions: 2011 Red Cabinet, Gallery Loop, Seoul / 2006 Displacement, LG space, Chicago / Selected group exhibitions: 2012 Art Spectrum 2012, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul / 2012 SeMA Blue 2012: 12 Events for 12 Rooms, Seoul Museum of Art / 2011 Asia Unspecific, Five Myles, Brooklyn, NY / 2008 How Soon is Now, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York / 2007 Contemporary Korean Artists in New York, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul.

Introduction of works:

Han Kyung-woo is a magician who plays visual tricks. At first glance, some of his installations feature a room filled with daily objects – tables, chairs and cabinets scattered in a disorderly manner. A television set is installed normally on the wall, as part of the assembly. Strangely, it is showing a balanced image far detached from the interior status, suggestive of colour bars used for television screen tests, a familiar artwork by Piet Mondrian, or the more complex national flag of the United States. The image on the screen is static, as a lit abstract painting. Its stillness can only be ‘activated’ by the audience themselves, when they ‘step’ into the screen which has been displaying the space in live time. There is no deception, but the accurately arranged installation, can only be seen through a calculated single perspective.

In Han’s most recent series White Noise, a television shows a ‘flashing’ screen, which seemingly is nothing more than a dizzy pattern. It appears as a faulty monitor for a video work, until one realises the fact that the ‘flashing’ screen is not flashing. It is actually presenting an image of a monochromatic painting, being replayed by a video camera located elsewhere in the exhibition space.

Visual sense does not always help our perception of the world, and can sometimes instead generate confusions. “We only see what we want to see”, as the artist reflects, “and seeing can only be subjective.” Truth is just over there, apparent and visible, yet to be recognised.