Kangja Jung

정강자, 꿈이여 환상이여 도전이여(Dear Dream, Fantasy, and Challenge) 아라리오뮤지엄 인 스페이스 설치전경, 2023 ⓒ2023 ARARIO MUSEUM.

The exhibition title is same as the title of Kangja Jung’s autobiographical essay of 1990. As she has mentioned in her foreword, the road of creation she chose to follow for happiness was an arduous journey, and her dreams and ideals were hard to achieve. Attempts to break away from the art world dominated by Informel and to breakdown the boundary between art and daily life were restricted. Also feminist works were considered as obscene. Nevertheless, she never ceased to work, and continued her own solitary struggle constantly defying and dreaming to perfect herself. Jung, who was most active at the forefront of Korean experimental art in the 1960s and 70s, did not receive proper appraisal for a long time. It was in the 2000s when the need to reevaluate her artistic achievements were raised.

Jung’s solo exhibition Dear Dream, Fantasy, and Challenge aims on exploring her life and artistic journey focused on paintings and batik works created in the 1970s and 80s, following the period when she led the avant-garde experimental art scene in the 1960s and 70s. From archive materials on her early experimental works and performances, batik works made when she went to Singapore as if to escape from her suffocating life, and to paintings she worked on whenever she could while taking care of her family after returning to Korea, the exhibited works represent a female artist that considered art to be life itself and the ultimate goal in any occasion. This exhibition will not only serve as an opportunity for the viewers to examine the life of Kangja Jung who led her own life as an artist and woman independently in the light of her works, but also provide the viewers to contemplate on daily life and art as well as reality and ideals.

ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE
83, Yulgok-ro, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Korea
+82 2 736 5700

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