Hyunae Kang

Hyunae Kang (*1959, Chungcheongnam-do, Korea) is a Korean sculptor and painter. She grew up in a rural village untouched by South Korea’s industrialisation during the 1960s and 1970s, which instilled in her a deep connection to the natural world, a recurring theme in her works. At the age of eighteen, she moved to Seoul, where she earned her BFA and MFA in sculpture from Ewha Womans University.

In 1991, Kang’s artistic career took off with her first solo exhibition at Seoul’s Gallery Hyundai. Her sculptures explored the tension between geometric modernism and organic abstraction, blending pure forms with natural irregularities. Kang’s preferred materials, including bronze, wood, marble, and obsidian, reflected her fascination with material diversity to attain a visual balance.

Two years later, she moved to the United States and transitioned to painting. This American sojourn marked a profound change in her artistic practice, transitioning from more sober artworks to compositions that display an explosion of vibrant colours. Certainly, she has drawn inspiration from American Color field artists like Rothko, Motherwell, and Frankenthaler. However, Kang differs from this group of painters, who use solid tones, enhancing the richness of colour by delving into its luminosity and experimenting with texture.

Speaking of differentiation, Hyunae Kang has often been connected with the Korean artistic movement of the 1970s known as Dansaekwa, recognised for its monochromatic simplicity and aesthetic minimalism. However, while Kang shares with this movement the contemplative repetition, her art, on the contrary, is maximalist; It extends beyond a single color to encompass a wide spectrum. Moreover, the artist further distances herself from minimalism by layering brushstrokes of various colours, drawing inspiration from the divisionist color theory. Therefore, instead of reducing and eliminating, Kang aims for abundance through color, light, and texture.

What makes Hyunae Kang’s paintings so captivating goes beyond just her technique and the vibrant explosion of colors; it is the profound meaning she infuses into her works. She considers her art an expression of faith. As a devoted Christian, she believes that art can serve as a medium to explore the experience of the divine. However, don’t mistake her work as a traditional religious art - Kang’s paintings don’t depict sacred images. Instead, through abstract art, she connects with the sacred. In essence, she considers her artworks as prayers, and each layer meticulously applied becomes a prayer in itself. They are composed of texts written in Korean and invented symbols, which are part of her personal sacred language. The layering of paint, namely what Kang refers to as “inscriptions”, echoes the repetition of words or mantras as a practice in various religions, allowing to reach a heightened awareness.

She exhibited her works in various American venues, marking a significant turning point in her artistic journey. It was in 1995 that she gained recognition, when the Seoul Art Museum acquired one of her works for their permanent collection. Since then, her works have been exhibited worldwide and have found a place in private collections and public institutions. In 2022, her first career retrospective, “Dialogues with the Sacred”, was held at the Muzeo Museum and Cultural Center in Anaheim, California. In this exhibition, Kang, as a devout Christian, creates an open connection between the divinity of nature and human expression.