Properties of
On View
February 22 – April 30, 3031
AHL Foundation’s Viewing Room (online)
Mookwon Han, Sungjae Lee, Yi Sa-Ra and Jayoung Yoon
Curated by Hitomi Iwasaki and Dahye Kim
AHL Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting artists of Korean descent, is proud to present “Properties of…”, an online exhibition featuring the recipients of the 2020 2nd Annual AHL Foundation Artist Fellowship, running from February 22, 2021 to April 30th, 2021. Curated by Hitomi Iwasaki, Director of Exhibitions at the Queens Museum and AHL Curatorial Fellow Dahye Kim, this exhibition features the works of artists Jayoung Yoon, Yi Sa-Ra, Sungjae Lee, and Mookwon Han.
The title “Properties Of…” refers to the notion that artists do not create things that are new to us, but rather their art engages properties of the world and our lives to make them newly visible and tangible. Odor or temperature of personal situations, weight or complexity of collective sentiments, or color, volume, and sound of things exist in between every being that composes the world. The artists in this exhibition do so by each occupying unique space with their highly authentic visions and approaches. They agitate the properties of their choosing. They present the world to us.
Jayoung Yoon is an interdisciplinary artist using Human Hair as a medium. Select exhibitions include Bronx Museum of the Arts, NY; San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, CA; Hudson Valley Museum of Contemporary Art, NY; New Bedford Art Museum, MA; Ohio Craft Museum, OH; Delaware Center for Contemporary Art, DE; Here Arts Center, NY; Coreana Museum of Art, Korea and Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, Korea. Her work has appeared in various publications, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Hyperallergic, Gothamist, Artnet News, Surface Design Journal, and Fiber Art Now.
Yi Sa-Ra received an MFA at Columbia University School of the Arts (2020) and a BFA with honors from the Rhode Island School of Design (2011). She also received the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship to attend the Yale Summer School of Art and Music in Norfolk (2010). Yi has won awards and fellowships from the AHL Foundation in New York and the JoongAng Ilbo Culture Media in Seoul. Her work has been exhibited and screened in venues including Wallach Art Gallery, Lenfest Center for the Arts, New York (2019), Insa Art Space, Seoul (2017), Weekend, Seoul (2017), CHAPTER II, Seoul (2016), Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale, Tokamachi, Japan (2015), Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul (2013) and Roger Williams National Memorial, Providence (2011).
Sungjae Lee is from Seoul, South Korea. He is currently living and working between Seoul and Chicago, IL. He received his B.F.A. in Sculpture from Seoul National University in 2014. During his study, he found himself more interested in immaterial and time-based mediums (e.g. performance, installation, text, sound, and video) with the aim of visualizing marginalized groups through his body of work. To develop his practice as a professional performance artist, he pursued his M.F.A. in Performance Art at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2017. Throughout 3 years of stay in the States, his practice has delved into the visibility and representation of queer Asians and their desires in the West. He has presented his works globally in Korea, Sweden, Canada, New Zealand, and the US. His performance pieces were shown in “Emergency INDEX” published by Ugly Duckling Press and “A Research on Feminist Art Now” by No New Work.
Mookwon Han resides in NY and strives to spread saving the environment through video installation. Han has had solo shows at Choi&Lager Gallery Seoul, Kumho Museum, Doosan Gallery NY, CUE Art Foundation, and KyungIn Museum. Han’s work included in group exhibitions at Seongnam Art Center, Seongnam; NY Media Center; The Fondazione Filiberto Menna, Salerno, Italy; Galeria U Jezuitow, Poznan, Poland; Bund18 Creative Center, Shanghai, China; Space C, Coreana Museum, Seoul, Korea; Nation Centre for Performing Art, Asia Society Mumbai Centre, Mumbai, India; Metropolitan Pavilion, NY; David Zwirner Gallery, NY; Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery/ Asia Society Museum NYC; Unit B Gallery, San Antonio: Hoam Gallery and National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul. Han received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts NYC and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting Sculpture (John Whitney Payson Fellowship).
The AHL Foundation Artist Fellowship was established in 2019 with generous backing from the Dow Kim Family Foundation. The fellowship is designed to support talented Korean contemporary artists active in the United States. Recipients of the Artist Fellowship are given the opportunity to participate in the exhibition in New York City, but due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, this year’s exhibition was moved online.
