HONG KyoungTack

The patterns in <Funkchestra> evoke the intense beats and color sense of plastic culture’s shamelessness and audacity, raising visual pleasure to a fevered pitch. Within the tightly-filled canvas, the viewer can feel a buoyant groove outside the main rhythm and melody which permeates the entire work and raises the excitement level. The sound is minute and incidental, and can only be heard ‘while wearing earphones.’ It’s a sound that can only be heard through an ‘Otaku way of listening.’ Just like tiny units of sound can in aggregate create musical content, meaningless colors can create art when organized according to a flashy iterated logic (patterns). To convey the excitement of punk rock, HONG Kyoung-Tack has placed bright tones upon the canvas, highlighting his superior design sense. The colors in HONG’s works differ from common shading combinations, and have helped him achieve rarefied status in the Korean art world. “Up until now, Korean art has excessively neglected ‘visual pleasure.’ But we must go further. We must pursue visual pleasure.” HONG has succeeded in creating visual pleasure in <Funkchestra>. HONG’s sense of color has won him recognition in art circles. In fact I felt joy when, thanks to HONG Kyoung-Tack, I was freed from the dominance of monochrome painting in 1980s Korean art.

- by Lee Jin-sook, author of [History of Russian Art] (Minumsa, 2007) and [Big Bang of the Arts] (Minumsa, 2010)

HONG KyoungTack
Born in 1968, Seoul, Korea

EDUCATION
1995    B.F.A. in Painting, Kyoungwon University, Seongnam, Korea

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2012    FULL OF LOVE, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea
              Kyoung Tack Hong, CAIS Gallery, Hong Kong
2010    PENS, Doosan Gallery, New York, NY, U.S.A
2008    Purgatorium, CAIS Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2006    GIVE & TAKE, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
              Funkchestra, Gallery the Social, Seoul, Korea
2005    Funkchestra, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2003    Coex Ima, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2002    Cafe Ima, Ilmin Museun of Art, Seoul, Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2012    Ilwoo Space, Seoul, Korea
              Jeonbuk Province Art Museum, Wanju, Korea
              Plastic Days, Pohang Museum of Art, Pohang, Korea
2011    Pink City Art Project: Contemporary Art Exhibition of India & Korea,
              Uijeongbu Arts Center, Uijeongbu, Korea
              2011 Henkel Inno Art Project, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul, Korea
              Made in Poland, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea
              Rhythm in Art, Gaain Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2010    Multi Effect, Gallery Ihn, Seoul, Korea
              Meet in ARKO, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea