"SSAL"
Yong-Chang Chung has long painted gloomy scenes of the destruction and fear caused by war in a very dark and sublime tone. For him the Pacific War is not just a part of history but an ongoing reality together with the indelible trauma of the Gwangju Democratic Uprising. The ominous effect of his monotone flat paintings made of burnt rice are powerful means for delivering the message about the destructive result of war and the tragedy that such violence brings.
Tae Man Choi
"SSAL" Installation view,2007, rice and modelship
"SSAL" Installation view,2007 rice and modelship
Black Rice
By Klaus Sebastian
At the beginning, there was rice, the staple food of Asia, the source of life, the essential.
So the fact, that rice (Korean: “SSAL”) plays an important role in the work of Yong-Chang Chung, might not surprise at first. But the artist from Korea does not only use this aliment, because of its elemental strength as a symbol. He rather works very elementally with the brittle material. Wide boards, so densely covered with black dyed rice grains that they seem not only to absorb the incoming light, but even the glance of the viewer.
Yong-Chang mixes the rice with oil paint and lets this unusual paint-material dry for several days. Then he thoroughly “seeds” the grains with a scraper on the boards – the eyes very close to the emerging order in a meticulous-meditative process, which he is often only able to conclude with the protection of a dusk mask.
..... the work of Yong-Chang is a disclosure of an artist, who passionately observes and emotionally takes part in social and political events. Passion, in this context, may be defined as the ability to commiserate. The question if, for instance monstrosities like the nuclear strikes on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, can even be portrayed by artistic means, must have concerned the artist for a long time. Every attempt of illustration would fail against reality.
At the end, he found a strong and expressive medium in the black rice boards. Here, the stigmas of a century-crime virtually freeze into images of silence and emptiness: Cenotaphs are no longer a topic in present art, but Yong-Chang does not resile from that taboo. He wants to commemorate the victims, he accepts this interpretation - and: “The works are supposed to symbolize hope and reconciliation as well“.
"SSAL (Hiroshima)"2004, rice,oil on wood, plaster figure, modelplane, 250cm x 250cm
"SSAL"2008, rice,oil on wood, 115cm x115cm
... The shipwreck or the sunken ship, since Caspar David Friedrich a symbol for forfeited hope, is found in his work as well as its modern equivalent – the crashed airplane.
He dealt with the destructive potential of airplanes already in 1999. He painted a Kamikaze-pilot, who sets course on a multistory building. A terrifying vision, which became brutal reality just two years later in New York City.
"SSAL"2002, Installation view, rice and modelship
1957 Born Mokpo city, Korea
Lives and works in Duesseldorf, Germany
Education
1986-91 Academy of Arts Duesseldorf, Masterstudent of Prof. A.R. Penck, Germany
1984-86 Gesamthochschule (School of Free Arts), Kassel,Germany
Solo Exhibitions
2008 Kunstsammlung im Stadtmuseum Jena, Germany
„Auguste Rodin Rendezvous Yong-Chang Chung“ Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso Muenster, Germany
Galerie Christine Park, Paris , France
2007 „SSAL “ arteversum, Duesseldorf,Germany
2005 Gallery BmB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
„yesterday is today “Bunker church, Duesseldorf, Germany
2003 Gallery BmB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2002 „war “ Stadtmuseum Duesseldorf,Germany
„war and peace“ Bunker church, for the EUROGA-Project, Duesseldorf, Germany
2001 Gallery BmB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1999 Gallery BmB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
„why “ Gallery Beethovenstraße, Düsseldorf, Germany
1997 Gallery BmB, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Korean Culture & Arts Foundation, Seoul, Korea
Galerie Song Won, Gwangju, Korea
1995 ART COLONGE, Gallery Ulla Sommers, Germany
Gallery Noack, Moenchengladbach, Germany
1994 „VITA“ Stadtmuseum Duesseldorf, Germany
1993 Gallery Ulla Sommers, Duesseldorf, Germany
1992 Gallery Mueller Burnert, Cologne, Germany
1991 Gallery Krakeslaett AB, Broemoella, Sweden
Gallery Ulla Sommers, Duesseldorf, Germany
Galerie Elsbeth Schmitz, Drensteinfurt, Germany
1990 Goethe Institut, Duesseldorf,Germany
Katholische Hochschulgemeinde, Duesseldorf,Germany
1989 Willicher Kunstverein, Willich, Germany
Group Exhibitions
2008 Gallery In Vorm, Hasselt, Belgium
2007 „connected “ Alt Museum, Moenchengladbach, Germany
„ 24/7 – The 24 hours of a day“ arteversum, Duesseldorf, Germany
2006 Gallery Zeugma, Cologne, Germany
2005 „From memories of Gwangju to the peace of East- Asia“ Artmuseum, Kyoto, Japan
2004 „chasm“ Busan Biennale, Busan, Korea
2001 „Altars“, conception for 6 Altars from Korea, Museum kunstpalast, Duesseldorf, Germany
KUNST RAI 2001, Amsterdam, Netherlands
ART TWENTE, LM Holten, Netherlands
1999 125 Years Stadtmuseum, Duesseldorf, Germany
1998 KUNSTRAI 1998, Amsterdam, Netherlands
1998 MANIF SEOUL 98, Seoul, Korea
1997-06 Grossekunstausstellung NRW Museum kunstpalast, Duesseldorf, Germany
1994 „War and Peace“ Historical Museum, Warsaw, Poland
1991 ART Frankfurt 91, Germany
Exponata 91 Muenster, Germany
1990 ART 21 90 Basel, Swizerland
ART COLONGE 90, Cologne, Germany
Public Collection
Stadtmuseum Duesseldorf, Germany
The Charles Saatchi Collection, London, UK
Bunker church, Duesseldorf, Germany
NWV/UGA, Straelen-Herongen, Germany
Bibliography
2008 Auguste Rodin Rendezvous mit Yong Chang Chung, Graphikmuseum Pablo Picasso Muenster,
Exhibition Catalogue, Druck Verlag Kettlr ISBN 978-3-941100-03-09, Germany
Vernissage Ausstellungen 2/08,PP 32, 33, Vernissage Verlag, ISBN 1434-5986, Germany
Die Wirklichkeit in den Bildfindungen,von P. Alexander fiedler, TRZ, September, Germany
Tusche tanzt auf blosser Haut, von M. Jennen, Muenstersche Zeitung, Mai , Germany
Tusche- Tropfen im Rendezvous mit Rodins Aquarellen, von S. Behler, Medien, Mai , Germany
Tusche-Striche im Pariser Sommer, von J. Loy, Westfaelische Nachrichten, Mai, Germany
Chung uebermalt Rodin, von K. Sebastian, Rheinische Post, Juli 2008, Germany
2007 Ich habe in Paris Rodin getroffen, arteversum, Exhibition Catalogue, April 2007, Duesseldorf, Germany
SSAL, arteversum, Exhibition Catalogue, April 2007, Duesseldorf, Germany
Kunst aus Reis, von K. Sebastian, Rheinische Post, Mai, Germany
2006 War and Utopie, Klartext Verlag , ISBN 3-89861-619-3, Germany
Grossekunstausstellung Duesseldorf NRW, Exhibition Catalogue, Germany
2005 From memories of Gwangju to the peace of East- Asia, Artmuseum, Kyoto, Exhibition Catalogue, Japan
Leid hat kein Verfallsdatum, Rheinische Post, Mai, Germany
Art unter der Kirche des Monats, Mai, Kichenzeitung, Germany
Grossekunstausstellung Duesseldorf NRW, Exhibition Catalogue, Germany
2004 War and Peace in Duesseldorf, Grupello Verlag, ISBN 3-89978-003-5, Germany
Chasm, Busanbiennale, Exhibition Catalogue, Korea
War, Bunker Kirche Kunstort, Grupello Verlag , Germany
Verstecktes Wunder, Rheinische Post, August, Germany
Lebenswege – Totentaenze, Grupello Verlag , ISBN 3-89978-033-7, Germany
Grossekunstausstellung Duesseldorf NRW, Exhibition Catalogue, Germany
2003 NO WAR , Chungryunsa Verlag , ISBN 89-7278-600-4, Korea
Grossekunstausstellung Duesseldorf NRW, Exhibition Catalogue, Germany
2002 War, Stadtmuseum Duesseldorf, Exhibition Catalogue, , Februar, Germany
Teufelskreis der Symbole, von K. Sebastian, Rheinische Post, Februar, Germany
Anflug einer Ahnung, von J. Pehrke, Suedeutsche Zeitung, Februar, Germany
War and Peace im Bunker, von B.Knitsch, Rheinische Post, September, Germany
Dunkel, aengstigend, beklemmend, von H.Willner, Rheinische Post, August, Germany
War imBunker hat viele Facetten, von N. Holtwick, Stadtteilnachrichten, Juli, Germany
Zeichen der Hoffnung, Patmos Verlag, ISBN 3-491-75702-9, Germany
Grossekunstausstellung Duesseldorf NRW, Exhibition Catalogue, Germany
2001 altaere, museum kunst palast, Hatje Cantz, Exhibition Catalogue, ISBN 3-7757-1032-9, Germany
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