Michael Hyun Gu Kang Statement & Information

"My name is Michael Hyun Gu Kang. I am a painter who often uses mixed media. I am a Korean diasporic artist. I am a high anxiety physical person who enjoys color and is sensitive to the world around me. As a Korean American painter, my process is emblematic of my upbringing. Colors from the suburbs, physicality from athletics/dancing, and the resourcefulness of being a person of color has shaped my work. I often use an assemblage of materials that are visually glued or literally glued together with paint. Paint, fabric, and various mixed media are laid upon each other to create a new organic surface. I present figures or moments that are being constructed and deconstructed in these layers. The figures are trapped, and are existing in or breaking through a moment. Sometimes the paintings are a hand leaving their mark on history. I build layers and etch through them. I paint over figures and bring them back. No matter how many times I paint and construct over something, the history remains. I am able to reflect on the paintings as I explore them and they quickly move from bouts of flurried mark making/construction to moments of clearer more direct actions. I keep painting until the work reaches the place it feels destined to be. I enjoy how something once attached to the painting superficially, can be imbued with newfound meaning and intention."

–Michael Hyun Gu Kang

Website: www.michaelhyungukang.com
Instagram: @mikehkanga