An exhibition of new paintings by Jaena Kwon is on view from October 23 through November 18th at Space 776 in the Lower East Side.
Jaena Kwon’s work is concerned with painting components and how painting space is constructed. She treats painting as an image objectified or embedded in physical material. Her works are always solid colors which give more chance to notice differences in surface topography, gradual edge changes, boundaries from layered surfaces, subtle indentations, and textures are used to make the viewer examine the work’s shape and texture closely.
The theme of this show started from looking back on not being able to perform the everyday activities that we have been taking for granted. As Kwon said, “I found solace in open spaces and from looking up to the open sky, away from the empty forest of buildings. I wanted to create a series of work that allows one to relate to, similar to how we tell stories from looking up to the clouds and stars in the sky,” the paintings shown in the show were created between the lockdown period between March and October with this theme in mind.
Jaena Kwon (b. 1986, South Korea) earned her MFA in Painting and Printmaking at Yale University School of Art. Her work incorporates the elements of painting to go beyond the possibility of expanding the pictorial space of the flat surface. In her practice, folding and sanding is a way of expanding the surface and supporting the structure of the painting. Working with wood, light density fiberboard, gesso, acrylic, and pigments, she creates shaped work that achieves a fluid and haptic texture that heighten the logic of dimensions and psychological affect. Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues such as The Painting Center, NY; Amy Simon Fine Art, CT; Song Eun Art Space, Seoul; ING Art Project, Seoul and many more.
Oil paint on canvas
48 × 36 × 2 in
121.9 × 91.4 × 5.1 cm
