Contemporary Korean-American Artists of Hawai‘i
October 3, 2003 - January 6, 2004

In conjunction with the Crossings 2003: Korea/Hawai‘i exhibition on view at TCM’s Makiki Heights galleries this fall, The Contemporary Museum at First Hawaiian Center presents Contemporary Korean-American Artists of Hawai‘i. This exhibition features works by twelve Korean-American artists living in Hawai‘i and working in a variety of media including painting, mixed-media, photography, glass and printmaking.

Kloe Kang paints doors, chairs and rice bowls, addressing the exotic and mundane elements that co-exist in Hawaii’s mixed cultural climate. Works in acrylic on canvas by abstract painter Byoung Yong Lee (1948-1999) are powerful distillations of Eastern and Western symbolism. Diane Kim’s mixed-media paintings of hands and mittens (the Korean word for mitten means “mute glove”) convey her feeling of muteness as an immigrant and non-native speaker.

Mixed-media artists include Jeeun Kim, whose small salt brick boats reference the young men who immigrated to Hawai‘i with the dream of someday returning to Korea. Wendy Kim-Messier works with window screening, fiber and paint to explore the way light and fiber can transform a space. Jinja Kim applies rub-on letters and numbers onto a simple house form, forming layered works that explore environment and language. Ezekiel Chihye Hwang creates humorous, light-hearted works that combine various objects such as candy, Astroturf, golf tees and stickers.

The exhibition also includes work by several emerging photographers, including Hyeyoung Kim, whose photos depict figures in constructed dioramas, images of the isolated individual in difficult or threatening situations. Photographer Dana Forsberg combines photographs of friends and family with pages from her journal and calendar, with the resulting works taking on new presence as memories. Chang Jin Lee uses the technique of digital photography to manipulate and duplicate images, layering them and altering color to create collage-like, geometric compositions.

Artists working in other media include Geoff Lee, whose works in glass combined with various materials explore a sense of power and fragility, as well as issues relating to his Korean heritage. Jooyi Maya Lee’s abstract prints are inspired by the residual gum markings on the streets and subways of New York, in which random participation of both individuals and natural processes converge to create unique patterns.