Sen Chung
Sen Chung has built an impressive body of work that presents an uncanny world with his subtle handling of paint and unique vocabulary employing a technique of light washes coupled with liberal accents of colour thus suggesting a metaphysical boundary.
Born in 1963, Sen Chung lives and works in Dusseldorf. He graduated from Hong-Ik University with a BFA in Korea, and received Masters degrees from Kunstakademie Dusseldorf in Germany and MA in Fine Art in 2006 from Chelsea College of Art, London. Solo exhibitions in the Netherlands, USA, France, Belgium, Germany and his native country followed, along with numerous international group exhibitions, including at the Jerwood Space, London, in 2006, Kukje Gallery in Seoul, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, in 2009 and the Liverpool Biennial 2012. In 2009 he participated in the International Studio & Curatorial Program in New York. Chung has enjoyed artists’ residences in various countries, most notably at the MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire. His work can be seen in collections in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, England, USA, Belgium and elsewhere. When he first lived abroad, not surprisingly, he tried to perceive the dichotomy between Eastern and Western culture. Gradually the coexistence of these two worlds created a strong emotional impact through the immediate accessibility of Old Master work and the highly cultivated atmosphere showing important traces he prefers to explore.
The contrast between forms and non-forms characterizes the tension found in both paintings and paper works. On cloudy backgrounds with an accentuated light base, coloured squares, circles or dots are connected to the centre of the picture with lines. The compositional framework thus created is the figure within the paintings, sometimes central, sometimes askew.
In his new paintings, the artist filled each canvas with rough graphic marks in addition to the geometric and static elements expressed in restrained lines and planes. These express the balance between emotional and rational by invisible forces.Through the geometric, abstract elements that quietly float within the square frames of a canvas, the artist emphasizes the indirectness of expression and ambiguity. In so doing, Sen Chung unfolds his ongoing personal research on ‘painting aesthetics’ or ‘aesthetic judgements’ in terms of contemporary viewpoint.
Painting a great picture does not come easily. It takes most artists many years to get to the point. With a sense of mystery, he is trying to push the boundaries of painting and besides aiming to create something that has a timeless quality and at the same time that makes a picture special.
Lives and works in Dusseldorf /in Seoul
EDUCATION
2006 MA Fine Art, Chelsea College of Art & Design, London, UK
2001 Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Meister Student by Prof. D.Rabinowitch, Akademiebrief, Germany
1987 Hongik University of Fine Arts, Seoul, Korea
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
- (Forthcoming) CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2021
- REREADING ROMANTICISM, Gallery Royal, Seoul, Korea
- temporality, wooson gallery, Daegu, Korea
- touching stardust, Noblesse Collection, Seoul, Korea
- VERY ART, OCI Museum of art, Seoul, Korea
- Paintings:Sen Chung, Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany
- A Form to the World, Galerie Choi&Lager, Cologne, Germany
- Pictures in a Gallery, nook gallery, Seoul, Korea
- Sen Chung:Painting, Parkhaus im Malkastenpark, Dusseldorf, Germany
- Sen Chung:New Paintings,Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgium
- painting itself, gallery EM, Seoul, Korea
- study painting, nook gallery, Seoul, Korea
- sentimental reasons, Galerie Duboys , Paris, France
- Sen Chung, negenpuntnegen galerij, Roeselare, Belgium
- 2013
- labyrinthian path,gallery EM, Seoul,Korea
- old silhouette, shinhan gallery, Seoul, Korea
- Sen Chung, negenpuntnegen galerij, Roeselare, Belgium
- new work, Tina Kim Gallery, New York, USA
- painter:Sen Chung, Gallery EM, Seoul, Korea
- As Days Go By, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgium
- wildwood air, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
- first glance, Loop, Seoul, Korea
- wooden heart, Ilmin museum of art, Seoul, Korea
- terra incognita, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgium
- self titled, Shinsegae gallery, Gwangju, Korea
- white boredom, Kunstverein Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
- white boredom II, Gallery Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgium
- happy solutions, Alternative space pool, Seoul, Korea
- can´t answer that one, Jungmiso, Seoul, Korea
- so it all made sense, Foerderverein Aktuelle Kunst, Munster, Germany
- Sen Chung, Gallery Van Dedem Tielkemeijer, Olst, the Netherlands
- Sen Chung, Gallery Conrads, Dusseldorf, Germany
- Sen Chung, Verein zur Förderung junger Kunst galerie januar, Bochum, Germany
- Sen Chung, Kunstverein Emmerich, Emmerich, Germany
- your desired destination, Kumho Museum, Seoul, Korea
- Sen Chung:painting & drawing, Museum Baden, Solingen, Germany
- Sen Chung, Kunsthaus Mettmann, Mettmann, Germany
- Sen Chung, Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler Haus, Rockenhausen, Germany
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
- (Forthcoming) FLOWER, CHOI&CHOI Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2021
- Undefined Manual:Drawing Viewpoint, Yangpyeong Art Museum, Korea
- one at a time, WESS, Seoul, Korea
Art of Love, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
OGAMDO: 5 Scenes of Korean Art, manarat al saadiyat museum, Abu Dhabi
2019- counter wave, Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- Formed the Universe, Galerie Choi&Lager, Seoul, Korea
- Die Grosse, Kunstpalast, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Korean Modern & Contemporary Drawings, soma, Seoul, Korea
- Unfolded Dice, A-Lounge Contemporary Art Space, Seoul, Korea
- An-Other Column, Sen Chung/Hong Buhm, Doosan Art Center, Seoul, Korea
- SeMa Gold, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
- Connect 1, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea
- Centre culturel de Marchin, Marchin, Belgium,
- panoramic portrait, Jeonbuk Museum of Art, Wanju, Korea
- Contemporary Art- China, Japan and Korea, Galerie Frank Schlag & CIE, Essen, Germany
- untitled, space can, Beijing, China
- City States 7th Liverpool Biennial 2012, Liverpool, UK
- Peinture, Galerie Triangle Bleu, Stavelot, Belgium
- The Perpetual Dialogue, Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, USA
- Wonderful Pictures, Ilmin museum of art, Seoul, Korea
- passage, Universal Cube, Leipzig, Germany
- Modest Monuments, Contemporary Art from Korea, King’s Lynn Arts Centre, UK
- Ikob collection, Museum of Young Art, Vienna, Austria
- The Time of Resonance, Arario gallery, Beijing, China
- black powder + white paper, Kyunghee University Museum of Fine Art, Seoul, Korea
- Still Dynamics, The Korean Contemporary Art in London, Jerwood Space, London, UK
- triangle space, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
- iaab studio, Basel, Switzerland
- Neue Bilder Dusseldorer Ateliers, Museum fur Zeitgenossische Kunst Eupen, Belgium
- Triangle Artists´Workshop, Open studio, New York
- do not stop all over, Bergische Kunstausstellung, Museum Baden, Solingen, Germany
- Weltanschauungen, Goethe Institut, Palermo, Italy
- Maerkisches Stipendium, Staedtische Galerie Iserlohn, Germany
- Museum Deggendorf, Deggendorf, Germany
- Blaue Stunde, Neuer Sachsischer Kunstverein, Dresden, Germany
- Grosse Zeichnungen, Landesgalerie Linz, Austria
- Gallery Van Dedem Tielkemeijer, Olst, the Netherlands
- Arkadien, Gallery Joachim Blueher, Cologne, Germany
- Kahnweiler Prize, Donnersberghalle, Rockenhausen, Germany
- Saar Ferngas-Junge Kunst, Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrucken, Germany
- Gallery Joachim Blüher, Cologne, Germany
- Musum, Kwanhon Gallery, Seoul, Korea
GRANTS
2020 MKW-Scholarship, Düsseldorf, Germany
2017 The Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture
2012 Residency Programm-Project Space in Beijing, CAN Foundation, Seoul, Korea
2009 International Studio & Curatorial Program, New York, USA
2008 Arts Council Korea
2005 iaab, Basle, Switzerland
2004 Residency Anderson Center, Minnesota, USA
2004 Residency MacDowell Colony, Peterborough, New Hampshire, USA
2003 Scholarship from the Foundation for Culture of Rhine Neckar, Heidelberg, Germany
1999 Denkmalschmiede Höfgen, Grimma, Germany
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea
The Deutsche Bank Collection, Berlin
OCI Museum of art, Seoul
Landesgalerie Linz, Austria
The Foundation for Culture of Rhine Neckar, Heidelberg, Germany
Christoph Merian Stiftung, Basle, Switzerland
Suwon Museum Of Art, Suwon, Korea
Hyundai Capital, Seoul
Yangpyeong Art Museum, Yangpyeong, Korea
Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul
Museum fur Zeitgenossische Kunst Eupen, Belgium
Art Sonje Center (wall painting), Seoul
Hogan Lovells, London
CAN Foundation, Seoul
Daniel-Henry-Kahnweiler-Stiftung, Rockenhausen, Germany