Heemin Chung Umbra

For her first solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac, and the first presentation to take place in the UK, Seoul-based artist Heemin Chung presents a new body of paintings, sculptures and video. Titled Umbra in reference to the deep shadows cast by celestial bodies, the exhibition is an exploration of states of loss.

In the paintings, Chung employs her signature use of gel medium to create textured canvases that reimagine the conventions of the traditional form. She is inspired by the objects that she encounters on the streets of Seoul: from manmade urban detritus to elements belonging to the natural world. Sourcing digital images of similar objects, she addresses the process of material loss that occurs when these three-dimensional forms are flattened into two-dimensional data. She translates this imagery onto her canvases, which is then built up with painted additions. Using gel medium she creates semi-opaque, membrane-like sheets – the surfaces of which are also at times digitally printed or painted – which are draped, tucked and pinched onto the canvases.