Reshaped Traditions: Jeung Kang and Jungsan Senim January 14, 2012

Jan 5-28, 2012; Opening reception Jan. 14, 4:00-6:00 PM

Sandra Lee Gallery is proud to commence the New Year by introducing two eminent Korean artists to the Bay Area Contemporary Art Scene. In this rapidly evolving sector of the Asian art market, Jeung Kang's Hanbok paintings and Monk Jungsan Senim's Manicure Paintings have emerged as frontrunners, managing to become populist favorites while retaining their avant-garde roots. Despite their differences, they share a reverence for the minute, for accumulation and for forging identity in the face of a changing tradition.

Jeung Kang's Hanbok series examines the role of womanhood within a culturally evolving environment - where once emphasized traditions are replaced by modern values; where societal expectations and the search for personal identity are often in conflict. Jeung's Hanbok women employ the emblematic strength of tradition, yet actively seek and often attain mobility and freedom. Jeung Kang received her MFA from the University of Iowa and has exhibited widely over the past 20 years.

"A manicure kit is an ideal tool for painting," says Korean Monk Jungsan Senim. His large scale installations, using Buddhist iconography coupled with a minimalist aesthetic, are done completely in nail polish. Initially, Jungsan sought to comment on how Buddhist precepts clash with human nature, and the decadent, somewhat trivial, self-decorative essence of nail polish seemed a perfect tool. As the work progressed, he found the medium very much to his liking; slow and meditative, meticulous yet inherently possessing the potential for great freedom. This revelation has been at the center of his current work, in which vast minimalist abstractions are composed of thousands of minute hand-painted elements.

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