This exhibition took place when the gallery was previously known as Choi & Lager.

Choi&Lager Gallery is pleased to present a duo exhibition by artists Joong Baek Kim and Soon-Hak Kwon Paths Are Made By Walking, with a new body of work specially created for our Seoul gallery, conceived by Jari Lager.

'Paths Are Made By Walking' is a quote by Kafka, ... the path, and nothing else; wanderer, there is no path, the path is made by walking. In this exhibition, both artists Joong Baek Kim and Soon-Hak Kwon are united in their quest to discover fundamental truths about seeing absence.

Soon-Hak Kwon is an artist who reveals details through photographic images and installations. Here, Kwon shows us his installation work made in collaboration for this two-person exhibition. On the ground floor gallery the artwork we first encounter is a photograph of the wall of the artist's studio (Joong Baek Kim) in Jeju Island. This is an extension of the artist's History of series, when Kwon was photographing empty gallery walls, void of artworks and excluding everything but the surface detail of the wall. However, the artwork included in this exhibition represents the 'nothing' in the studio wall, a place where the daily painting of the artist Kim takes place. In other words, we see only the traces of Kim's painting process that frame the now completed and removed artwork. Kwon is interested in the frustration he tries to preserve by taking pictures presenting this 'nothing'. By getting rid of the limitations to represent an image, Kwon manages paradoxically to reveal the passing of 'time', which he calls an act of emancipation and freedom. It happens through the process of removing the very subject from the photographic image.

Joong Baek Kim believes that true artistic creation can only derive when the artist is free from all confusion; a disciplinant who strives for the ultimate good, endlessly repeating the act of drawing and covering up again. The artworks included in this exhibition are less coloured compared to the artist's early works, barely depicting minimal shapes that are covered with a white tone screen. The colours, white but yet not completely white, create a depth that comes from the use of gesso over canvas sheets that the artist has dyed with a mixture of coffee.

Soon-Hak Kwon (b.1979, S.Korea) completed his undergraduate at Incheon University; MFA at Hongik University; MA at Royal College of Art; awaiting completion PhD at the Royal College of Art; current Assistant Professor in Fine Art department at Incheon National University. He was awarded the RCA Fine Art bursary in 2012; in 2012 and 2006 he was selected for the JoongAng FineArts Prize. Kwon has held 11 solo exhibitions and various group exhibitions and projects in many countries, including Korea, the UK, Italy, Germany, Norway, France, Swiss, Turkey, Thailand, China. Soon-Hak Kwon lives and works in Inchoen, South Korea.

Joong Baek Kim (b.1973, S.Korea) studied as undergraduate at School of Visual Arts NYC, USA; from 1995 till 2005 he was active in NY showing at venues like Calculator, The Knitting Factory, The Flying Pan, Context Hall and the Tunnel in NYC. Kim has held 5 solo exhibitions and various group exhibitions and projects in countries, like Korea, USA, the UK, India, Nepal. Jong Baek Kim lives and works in Jeju Island, South Korea.

Press release courtesy JARILAGER Gallery.