Jang Taewon
Collusion
Mar 17 - Apr 11, 2009Gana Art New York
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JANG TAEWON
ON VIEW AT GANA ART NEW YORK
MARCH 17-APRIL 11, 2009
NEW YORK – Photographs from Taewon Jang's Collusion series will be on view at Gana Art New York from March 17-April 11, 2009. This is Taewon Jang's first solo exhibition at Gana. There will be an opening reception on March 19 from 6-8 P.M. at the gallery, located at 568 W. 25th Street.
The Collusion series, begun in 2007, explores Taewon Jang's response to various landscapes around the world. The initial photographs were taken in the Korean countryside, followed by images shot in Japan. Jang is currently completing the project, which will include about 40 images, by photographing in New York, where he is based. The photographs are both conventional and digital C prints, 50"x70".
Throughout the Collusion series, Taewon Jang shot exclusively after midnight, using only moonlight for illumination, giving the work a dark, mysterious and highly emotional quality. Jang focuses on the natural landscape as it is altered by the human presence, often in the form of factories and other industrial sites. In Jang's images, the enveloping darkness creates a parity between both the natural and the built forms.
At times, it is simply human beings standing in the sea at midnight, which establishes the relationship between humanity and nature.
As the title Collusion suggests, these images allude to the artist's negative commentary on society and the impact we have on our environment. Jang has noted, "We often separate ourselves from nature. If we want to coexist with nature, we need to be more inclusive. We make ourselves part of a separate entity and we collude for 'our progress' alone." Moving beyond critique, Jang's work embodies a deep sense of connection. "In the dark night in the countryside, I think, 'Where am I standing now?' Suddenly the sky, mountain and earth around me seem so beautiful. I want to embrace and live together with people, nature, creations, and even waste."
Born and raised in Korea, Taewon Jang first studied photography at Choong-Ang University and later received a Master of Fine Art degree at Columbia University's School of the Arts.
About Gana Art Gallery
From its foundation in 1983, Gana Art Gallery has served a pioneering cultural role in the rapidly developing art market in Korea. Gana has also established an international presence through its unflagging efforts to serve as intermediary between the art scene in Korea and the now global arena of contemporary art. Gana is now a major cultural institution of the Korean art scene and is well known for its many successful cultural ventures and its opening up of the art world to a larger public through the launching of the modern Gana Art Center in Seoul. It currently supports several artist-in-residency programs in Korea and abroad. Gana opened its first international branch, the Galerie Gana Beaubourg, in Paris in 1995 and has recently opened its Chelsea gallery in the Spring of 2008. From its inception, Gana has held firm to its twin goal of creating a strong presence for Korean artists abroad and for introducing the most important foreign work to a Korean audience. With the rapidly growing global interest in contemporary Asian Art, Gana Art New York is also committed to showcasing talented young and emerging artists from several countries in Asia, including India, China and Japan.