KONG Sunghun

KONG Sunghun (1965-2021) is an artist who draws the nature which has transformed into a theatrical device and the image of human staring the nature on canvas. In his earlier work, he presented conceptual work that used various media in all directions, but since the 1990s, he has concentrated on painting. The nature he painted is full of sublime and solemnity, but it looks familiar and rigid somewhere. The nature he depicted seems to bear our gaze, with its original light suppressed, like a historic place on a memorial postcard. His landscapes impart the enduring power that will always remain beyond human control. Such attributes might be an intrinsic part of nature or other unknown forces that defy human control. Seemingly like landscape, his painting is transformed into secularization by human traces that occupy a small part of the whole, revealing how insignificant and useless of our reality that objectifying nature. In his painting, the most prominent beauty does not come from the reproduced nature characteristics, but rather from the artist's control of the painting which transforms into rich painting in multilayered meaning.

KONG Sunghun held solo exhibitions at Arario Museum I Top-dong Cinema (Jeju, Korea), Daegu Museum of Art (Daegu, Korea) in 2019, Arario Gallery I Seoul (Seoul, Korea) in 2015, Arario Gallery I Cheonan (Cheonana, Korea) in 2014, OCI Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2012, and Alternative Space Pool (Seoul, Korea) in 2008. Major group exhibition includes such as Wumin Art Center (Daejeon, Korea) in 2020, Chang Ucchin Museum of Art (Yangju, Korea) in 2018, Goyang Aramnuri Art Museum and Hite Collection (Seoul, Korea) in 2017, Arario Gallery I Seoul in 2015, Jeju Museum of Art in 2014, Kumho Museum (Seoul, Korea) and National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, Korea) in 2013, Plateau Museum and Arco Museum (Seoul, Korea) in 2012, Busan Biennale (Busan, Korea) in 2006, Gwangju Biennale (Gwangju, Korea) in 1997, 2002. In 2019, won art prize at Lee In-Seong Academy Award (Korea), and won the 'Artist of the Year' award at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Korea) in 2013. Major collections include the National Museum of Contemporary Art (Korea), the Seoul Museum of Art (Korea), the Gyeonggi Museum of Art (Korea), and the Arario Museum (Korea). He is currently a professor of Fine Art at the School of Arts, Sungkyunkwan University.