The Multiplying Fragments of Memories

Korean Artist Project
Sep 28, 2016 3:00AM

                               In Kyung Kwon's Solo Exhibition

The Private Room, 2011, Collage of Ancient books and Indian ink on Korean paper, 158 x 127cm

  Kwon In Kyung explores the accumulated memories and experiences regarding spaces and locations by means of paintings and collages. Kwon deeply infuses her personal sentiments into spaces surrounding herself and recollects her life, using fragments of thorough and detailed memories of the spaces. The landscapes in her works involve locations within her memories, and yet they are not a mere representation of her memories but a world she built through intuition, reason and imagination.   

Imagined Memories 2, 2015, Collage of Indian ink and Acrylic on Korean paper, 125 x 187cm

  Scenes of cities, houses, rooms and other everyday spaces, which are at a glance familiar to everyone, appear as countless fragments. These fragments, whose dimensions are messed up from up and down to left and right, and which are depicted from multiple points of view, are layered and entangled with one another, creating a multilayered landscape. Natural objects and collages of Chinese characters, appearing out of context, increase the complexity of the images. Unbound by a particular viewpoint, landscapes proliferate like living things, and are overlapped and filled up by new fragments. This reveals Kwon’s intention and desire to persist in depicting a life and reminds us of the cycle of life and death.

  Displaying Kwon’s major works ranging from her early paintings in the 2000s to her latest pieces, this exhibition is comprised of three sections. The first section, titled “Floating Experiences,” presents panoramic landscapes of cities captured from a stroller’s point of view.

  In the second section, “Private Room,” paintings depicting rather personal rooms and interior scenes lend us a glimpse into the owners’ psychological landscapes. 

  The last section, “Imagined Memories,” introduces her latest works of landscapes, in which memories of tragic incidents and traumas are rearranged and transformed into newly-imagined memories in a paradoxical and intriguing manner.


Curated by Jiye Kim (OCI Museum of Art)

In Kyung Kwon is one of the participants of  Korean Artist Project, an online platform promoting Korean art.

Click here to see the virtual exhibition 

Korean Artist Project