The short lag times between reading late artist Kang Seok Ho’s paintings at Tina Kim Gallery as abstractions and then understanding them as representations of the human body generates little thrills of discovery. In this untitled painting, the energy of the bold floral pattern is overwhelming; a second later, two arms to either side resolve vivid leaf-like shapes into the pattern on a skirt, seen from behind. Abstraction becomes decoration, fine art becomes fashion, and flatness turns into curving form in just seconds while reading this vibrant and monumental painting. In selected paintings from c. 20 years at Tina Kim, radical cropping (Kang worked from photos he took or found in mass media sources) allowed the artist to zero in on bodies without faces, the better to put the focus on form over identity. Inspired by Asian landscape painting, Kang connected his contemporary vision of life with histories of rendering the natural world, rooting observations of the now with enduring imagery from the past. (On view through July 29th in Chelsea).
Kang Seok Ho, Untitled, oil on canvas, 92 ½ x 80 ¾ inches, 2005.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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