Chun Kwang Young
“I think the first thing I saw [as a child] was my mother's face, and then there was Mulberry paper. It is the spirit and soul of Koreans.”
Chun Kwang Young (B.1944) is a Korean artist best known for his textural, Mulberry paper sculptures. Drawn to America in his twenties, the promise of the American dream was enticing. During his time in the States, he absorbed himself in the culture, and focused on perceiving the values or lack thereof in modern society.(Read More)
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At a time when Abstract Expressionism was flourishing in New York, Chun felt like he’d finally found his place. Yet, as he continued to push the limits in his art, he felt more restrained. After a nostalgic moment he experience when he was feeling ill, he recalled a childhood memory of neighborhood doctor’s office who practiced traditional Chinese medicine. Afraid of needles, Chun would stare up at the ceiling at each individual packages of Mulberry paper that were hanging from it, each with a name card of medicine that was wrapped inside.
As he looked to fuse his Korean culture with his artwork, he created a new style. For each of those Mulberry papers now represented a memory, a moment in time, and they become accumulations of human experience. His celebrated Aggregation series of large-scale sculptures made of triangular Mulberry paper reflects unities of information, a part of a whole. As Chun says, “I tried to transform my canvas and the Mulberry paper pieces into a window that reflects the history of human life.”
Born in Hongchun, South Korea, he studied at Hong-Ik University in Korea and received his MFA from the Philadelphia College of Art. In 2014, Chun penned the Mulberry Mindscapes, a monograph that encompasses the breadth and variety of his successful artistic career. He has been awarded Artist of the Year by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul and was granted the Presidential Prize in the 41st Korean Culture and Art Prize by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. His work has been displayed in the collection of the Brooklyn Museum in New York; Museum of Seoul National University, South Korea; Victoria and Albert Museum in London, UK, Lee Ungno Museum, South Korea, and many more.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Awards & Honors
2009 Presidential Prize in the 41st Korean Culture and Art Prize, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, Seoul, South Korea
2001 Chun Kwang Young: Artist of the Year 2001, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, South Korea
1973 Special Prize in the Earth Art II, sponsored by Civic Center Museum, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
1967 Korean Contemporary Artist’s Invited Exhibition Special Prize, National Museum of Modern Art, Seoul, South Korea
Important Exhibitions
2022 Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Moscow, Russia
2020 The Ground Modern Art Museum, Seoul, South Korea
2018 Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
2017 Museum De Reede, Antwerp, Belgium
2016 Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art, Gyeongju-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, South Korea
2013 Seoul National University Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
2011 Knoxville Museum of Art, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
2009 University of Wyoming Art Museum, Laramie, Wyoming, USA
2008 The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
2002 The Columbus Museum, Columbus, Georgia, USA
1979 Malta National Museum, Saint Julian, Malta, USA
Important Group Exhibitions
2015 Venice Biennale Palazzo, Grimani Art Museum, Venice, Italy
San Museum, Wanju, South Korea
Spalding House: Less = More, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii
2013 The Moment, We Awe – Contemporary Art from Korea, How Art Museum, Wenzhou, China
2006 Holland Paper Biennial, CODA Museum, Apeldoorn, the Netherlands
2005 2005 Seoul Art Exhibition, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea
2003 Crossings 2003, Korea/Hawaii, Honolulu Museum of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Permanent Collections
British Museum, London, England
Victoria & Albert Museum, London, England
Busan Metropolitan Art Museum, Busan, South Korea
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea
Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
United Nations Headquarters, New York, USA
Woodrow Wilson International Center, Washington D.C., USA
Yale University Art Gallery, Connecticut, USA