CHUN KWANG YOUNG

The development of Chun’s signature technique was sparked by childhood memories of seeing medicinal herbs wrapped in mulberry paper, tied into small packages and hung from the ceiling of the local doctor’s office. He became intrigued with the idea of merging the techniques, materials and sentiment of his Korean heritage with the conceptual freedom he experienced during his Western education. Chun twists, folds and corrugates countless reused mulberry paper torn from Korean books before wrapping them over polystyrene, giving each of the uniqueness and individuality of his creations. Using paper to create these large-scale crystalised formations is significant, as it is a medium that was both created and exploited by mankind, and in his unique works, Chun returns the medium to a natural form under the artist’s hands, reimbued with vitality. Chun is also mindful of the texts and characters printed on these sheets of mulberry paper, creating an analogy about the destruction of the past and subsequent rebirth of the new.

Chun Kwang Young received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Hongik University, Seoul and a Master of Fine Arts from the Philadelphia College of Art, Pennsylvania. His work is in numerous public collections, including the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; The Rockefeller Foundation and the United Nations, New York; the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, D.C.; the Philadelphia Society Building, Pennsylvania; the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, and the Seoul Museum of Art; the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and the National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta. He was named Artist of the Year by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, in 2001 and in 2009 he was awarded the Presidential Prize in the 41st Korean Culture and Art Prize by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism.