Heemin ChungEducation
2015 MFA, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul, Korea
2012 BFA, Hongik University, Seoul
Solo Exhibition
2022 How Do We Get Lost in the Forest, P21, Seoul, Korea
2021 Soulites, Museumhead, Seoul, Korea
2020 If We Ever Meet Again, 021 Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2019 On Vacation, Incheon Art Platform, Incheon, Korea
An Angel Whispers, P21, Seoul, Korea
2018 UTC-7:00 JUN 3PM, On the Table, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul
2016 Yesterday’s Blues, Projectspace Sarubiadabang, Seoul
Group Exhibition
2022 We, On the Rising Wave, Busan Biennale, Busan
V8, Cylinder X N/A, Seoul
Your Present, Pace Seoul, Seoul
2021 Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Nam-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Folding City, Eulji art center, Seoul, Korea
2020 Catastrophic Sensation, Soorim Art Center, Seoul
Painting, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, Korea
Light and Crystalline, One and J Gallery, Seoul
The Parallel Universes of Prufrock, Rainbowcube, Seoul
2019 The Best World Possible, Platform L, Seoul
Psychedelic Nature, Artspace Boan, Seoul
Korean Young Artist: Liquid Glass Sea, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
Kumho Young Artist: The 69 Times of Sunrise, Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul
Tarte, Audio Visual Pavillion, Seoul
2018 Allover, Hite Collection, Seoul
EVE, Samyuk Building, Seoul
Gray Navy Black, Korean Cultural Center in Hong-kong, Hong-kong
Subscale, Gallery Lux, Seoul
2017 Sticky Forever, Keep in Touch, Seoul
Snowscreen, archive Bomm, Seoul
2015 VisitorQ, Post Territory Ujeongkuk, Seoul
Residencies
2022 Nanji Residency, Seoul, Korea
2020 MMCA Residency Goyang, Goyang, Korea
2019 Incheon Art Plaform, Incheon, Korea
2018 K’arts Studio, Seoul, Korea
AWARDS
2020 Sindoh Artist Support Program, SINAP, Korea
2017 Seoul Young Artist Group, Seoul Metropolitan Government, Korea
2016 Beginners Project, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Korea
Iris, 2021, acrylic, oil and gel medium on canvas, 194 x 145 cm
Whispering Violet, 2021, acrylic and gel medium on canvas, 194 x 130 cm
When Our Palmline Meets, 2021, acrylic and inkjet transferred gel medium and surgical chain on canvas, 226 x 190 cm
Whispering Violet 2, 2022, acrylic and inkjet transferred gel medium on canvas, 72 x 60 cm
When We Get By, 2022, acrylic and inkjet transferred gel medium on canvas, 45 x 60 cm
Jury’s Statement
Korea to gain new insight and take a leap forward—that the residency opportunity could be more meaningful for Chung compared to other artists who have had more international exposure. In addition, the small proportion of previously winning painters to photographers or video artists, due to the award’s emphasis on contemporaneity, contributed to Heemin Chung’s selection.
A rapidly growing painter since her debut in 2015, Heemin Chung has used the medium of painting to investigate the changes in the way images exist and are perceived since the popularization of digital devices. Among contemporary artists who deal with the production/circulation/consumption of images, Heemin Chung stands out in that she combines her research of post-internet sensibilities with that of the painting medium in considerable depth and balance. In particular, the fact that she explores the properties of digital images and the resulting mediumistic and perceptive changes through a traditional medium makes Heemin Chung an exemplary contemporary painter. More than that, the sheer quantity of work Chung can produce for each exhibition and that she introduces new formal experiments every time raises expectations for the possibility of her continued advancement. For instance, Chung represents the various aspects of digital imagery by piecemealing fragments of different textures in a thin layer over canvas. However, the fact that such an approach does not become a recurring style or stay within the boundaries of the canvas is what makes Chung’s work so eclectic. That is, Chung’s media experiment revolves around but is not confined to painting. Namely, her experiments extend across all media in the forms of physical variation of the canvas, arrangement of multiple canvases on a plane, combination [of painting] with video, expanding the form of a flat surface by rolling or suspending it, and more than that, utilizing three-dimensionality, video, and virtual reality.
The jury hopes this award and the overseas residency opportunity do not become another task to complete or pressure to perform for Heemin Chung. Rather, the jury looks forward to the award providing the artist with the time for internal revitalization and a springboard to launch ahead so that she can pause, catch her breath, and slowly recuperate into her journey for her future practice and methodology. The jury extends its deep congratulations to Heemin Chung.
_Jury: Seong Eun Kim, Jiyeon Kim, Mun Hye Jin