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Kukje Galleryis pleased to present Ahn Kyuchul’s solo exhibition Words Just for You from Feb 21 to Mar 31, 2017. The artist’s practice of using everyday objects and language as his primary mediums allows the audience to encounter his work that frames both their rationalities and paradoxes of the universe—finally opening up a space to contemplate them. Although Ahnis well known as an accomplished conceptual artist,this exhibition pushes beyond his familiar idioms,refusing to be confined under a single title or organizing principle. Words Just for You unveils the full complexity of Ahn’s diverse milieu by juxtaposing works from different interests of his.

Kukje Gallery K1 Ahn Kyuchul Words Just for You installation view, Photo: Keith Park. Image provided by: Kukje Gallery

Throughout the show the artist endows objects with new meaning through minimum alteration, intervention, and transposition—allowing the original form of the objects to be preserved.The exhibited works may seem rooted in his “object sculpture” in the early 90s. However, unlike the everyday objects that frequently appeared in his early works,his new work presented in this exhibition is inspired by primary forms such as circles, spheres, and lines. For example, round-shapedWords Just for You (2017) offers not only a blackhole-like environment that engulfs the audience’s words but also a space where the audience may find comfort. Another installation Lingering Time I (2017) consists of a gently sloped wooden track, designed for wooden balls to roll. The work suggests that we should bravely follow our own path, like the balls that try to reach the bottom of the track, regardless of its destined route and velocity.At the same time, it can be construed as a metaphor fora life,in that it frames many twists and turns that govern life, poetically illustrating the movement of the rolling balls lingering in time that, if dropped, would take less than a second in free-fall.

Kukje Gallery K1 Ahn Kyuchul Words Just for You installation view, Photo: Keith Park. Image provided by: Kukje Gallery

In addition to his large installations, the exhibition features a selection of new oil paintings. While Ahn is well-known for his drawings, which are used for designing and planning his work, he has produced several new oil paintings for this exhibition including The Way to Draw the Moon II (2017). In this work, which consists of twelve pieces, the artist explores his interest in accepting the destined failure yet maintains his optimism and continuous pursuit of realistic representation—reveling in the blurred boundary between the actual light and the painted light Ahn has also created small models of his large-scale installations reduced to a scale of one-fortieth of the original size such as 1,000 Scribes (2017). This interest in depicting an idea using numerous scales and materials can also be seen in the artist’s drawings and their relationship to his installation—an ongoing inquiry where Ahn continually adds layers to his investigation on the relation between concept and representation.

 Kukje Gallery K1 Ahn Kyuchul Words Just for You installation view, Photo: Keith Park. Image provided by: Kukje Gallery

Born in Seoul, Korea in 1955, AhnKyuchul received his BFA in Sculpture from Seoul National University and worked as a journalist for Art Quarterly until 1987. He then moved to Germany and studied at Staatliche Akademie der Bildende Künste Stuttgart until 1995. Since 1997, he has taught at the School of Visual Arts, Korea National University of Arts.Major solo exhibitions of his include Invisible Land of Love (2015) at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul,  All and but Nothing (2014) at HITE Collection,Seoul, and Forty-Nine Rooms (2004) at Rodin Gallery, Seoul. Ahn has participated in multiple domestic and international group exhibitions including the 9th Gwangju Biennale (2012) and Parallel Life (2005) at Frankfurter Kunstverein. As a writer, he has also published several books including Nine Goldfishes and Water in the Distance (2013), The Man’s Suitcase (2001), andMuseum without Painting (1996).Ahn’s works are included in the collections of major institutions including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art; Amore Pacific Museum of Art; and Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art (formerly Art Sonje Museum).

Artist Talk: Kukje Gallery K3 Auditorium, Friday, 10 March 2017, 5pm

 Ahn Kyuchul profile image installation view, Photo: Keith Park. Image provided by: Kukje Gallery

 Kukje Gallery K1 Ahn Kyuchul Words Just for You installation view, Photo: Keith Park. Image provided by: Kukje Gallery