Unit Space: Byungsub Kang, Nuri Kim, Seungtaek Kim

Unit Space held by the SEOJUNG ART features the work of three artists—Kang Byung Sub, Kim Nu Ri, and Kim Seung Taek—whose physical and digital paintings focus on everyday subjects such as houses, alleys, street buildings, and cities. Seojung Art Center, which strives to present the thoughts of contemporary artists in diverse ways, previously held an exhibition titled Place to Stay, Place to Leave at the exit of CGV Yongsan I’Park Mall as a platform for visitors to discover the true meaning of space. The follow-up exhibition, Unit Space, breaks away from the previous exhibition’s smaller scale to present large-scale works in a wider space.

The exhibition explores the issues of “urbanization,” “commercial district revitalization,” and “redevelopment.” Urban streets, dense with buildings, communicate a sense of “dryness” with their high-rise buildings and cold concrete, and the alleyways of commercial districts—repeatedly appearing and disappearing as the suburbanization of large cities intensifies—always seem somewhat unstable. However, in this exhibition, the artists shy away from these heavy themes of loss and a sense of darkness, and instead find hope in these urban elements and tell their narratives. To create his works, artist Kang Byung Sub visits areas with a large floating population and expresses the warmth he feels from the people there using warm colors. Through this expression of people living their daily lives in a community rather than as separate individuals, the artist transforms the familiar places that appear in his works into “ideal spaces.” Since childhood, Kim Seung Taek has lived in residential areas with narrow alleys and has witnessed these memory-filled places gradually disappearing with continued redevelopment. Now, the artist finds these traces of the past left in these old neighborhoods and incorporates these images into his work to creates new spaces. Kim’s works are spread out like panoramas and capture multiple perspectives, featuring remnants of buildings that have been demolished and old building that have held their ground as they coexist with the present time. Through her depiction of store signs and shop entrances, artist Kim Nu Ri immortalizes her own memories of specific places. The artist records the places she has visited, as if embarking on a journey of memories, and emphasizes the unique features of the shops that she has captured in her mind. Reproducing even the smallest details through primary colors and intricate descriptions, the artist conveys the vague feeling that even the newest shop that has just opened will not remain standing forever.

When the units of space are broken down, they reveal stories about the lives of the individuals who navigated them. For some people, a space gives them a sense of stability, but for others a space is just a temporary place to use while passing from one spot to the next. In this exhibition, three artists embark on their searches for their own spaces, each with a different reason for searching.