Askeri gallery presents Kwan Yong Chan's exhibition at MMOMA

In Moscow, on January 26, at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (Gogolevsky Boulevard 10/2), together with Askeri gallery, the grand opening of the exhibition “Unifications” by the famous Korean artist Kwan Yong Chan took place. The exhibition was curated by gallery owner Polina Askeri and art critic Vladimir Prokhorov.

The exhibition includes key works by the artist created between 1990 and 2021. The first floor of the exhibition covers the early and most characteristic works of the master; they are characterized by a dark brown color scheme and the natural color of the paper. The exhibition is complemented by a curatorial installation by Polina Askeri, reproducing an existential moment in the work of Kwan Yong Chan. The installation consists of an imitation of a traditional Korean pharmacist’s room with the unique smells of herbs and packages of medicine. The second floor – bright works (red and blue), a spectacular mirror installation.

The title of the exhibition “Associations” refers to the artist’s method of work, namely the gathering of many into a single one. Kwan Yong Chan creates panels of triangles from fragments of accounting reports, philosophical treatises, and love letters. The panels are created from hanzhi, a traditional Korean paper that is handmade from the bark of the mulberry tree. It has been widely used throughout Korea for many centuries and is used in a variety of fields, from household items to works of art and designer designs. Thus, in the hands of the artist, the hanzhi sheets receive a second life, and his works are filled with new meanings. The author calls each relief detail formed from a fragment of a particular document a “minimum unit of information.” Collected in a whimsical composition, they invariably remind us of the importance of historical memory and at the same time call for renewal and rethinking.

At the opening of the exhibition at MMOMA, the founder of the Askeri gallery, Polina Askeri, spoke about the history of her acquaintance with the work of the Korean artist and the history of the Moscow exhibition. Polina Askeri became acquainted with creativity at a museum in New York. Subsequently, thanks to the initiative of the artist’s son, the Askeri gallery began to present the artist’s work in Russia. The Kwan Yong Chan exhibition has been in preparation for two years and is on view until March 13 at MMOMA on Gogolevsky 10/2.

Nowadays the master’s panels are sold at leading Asian and American auctions in New York, Seoul and Hong Kong. Some of them cost more than $350.

The exhibition is supported by the Korean Cultural Center and Erborian cosmetics.