[𝐒𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐄𝐱𝐡𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧] National Agricultural Museum X Nanan /《Time of Full Bloom》

National Agricultural Museum of Korea x Nanan Kang Collaborative Exhibition

I'm interested in the places where flowers and nature permeate or coexist with human life, breaking down the rigid walls of modern life and exerting a positive influence. Furthermore, I hope to move beyond traditional methods of appreciation and allow the audience to directly engage with the artwork, maximizing the artistic experience and expanding the work's meaning. This is evident in the phenomenon of window paintings and painted bouquets (long-long-time flowers) that people encounter on the street, extending into diverse activities and spaces of life.

The more I work, the more I explore and incorporate my own unique identity into my work. The bird and flower paintings of folk paintings have become a wonderful source of learning and inspiration for me, who shares these same beliefs. The fact that our ancestors, who lived in strict social environments, broke free from convention and formality to freely express their unique imagery, and even glimpsed their attitude toward life—that nature is not an object of conquest but something to coexist with—makes the meanings attributed to flowers and birds in folk paintings reach a level of artistic value that goes beyond the interpretation of wealth, honor, and dreams.

While reinterpreting the "Flower and Bird Painting Folding Screen" from the National Agricultural Museum in my own way, I also began to examine the meaning of the folding screen. Folding screens can block the wind, conceal something, and even serve as a screen. Furthermore, when used metaphorically, as in "standing like a folding screen," it can refer to an object with a particularly insignificant presence.

My reinterpretation of "layered and wide" (層層幅幅) is a folding screen with an open background. Rather than being a completely blocked wall that obscures important elements and causes us to miss them, I hoped it could function as a frame, a viewfinder, allowing us to discover and observe. The fact that the garden of the National Agricultural Museum overlaps beyond the painting of flowers and birds signifies that human life, coexisting with nature, and the environment surrounding us can transform and be interpreted in diverse dimensions and layers beyond the canvas.

Additionally, the bird-and-flower folding screen allows visitors to freely express their own unique colors and create a vivid experience of blooming flowers on a tree in the direction and location of their choice. We hope this experience will bring comfort, hope, and hope to your lives, and we look forward to seeing how the bird-and-flower folding screen we create together will come to fruition.

Location, Opening Date: Central Hall, Exhibition Building, National Agricultural Museum (154 Suin-ro, Gwonseon-gu, Suwon) / 13.AUG - 1.DEC. 2024