HARRISBURG – An exhibit of sculptural books by Pittsburgh artist Sun Young Kang is on display through Sept. 26, 2012, at the Rose Lehrman Art Gallery on HACC’s Harrisburg Campus.
Kang, a book and installation artist, uses paper with its duality of strength and delicacy to create physical and conceptual space that embodies Yeo Baek, the Korean term for empty space left behind.
“To visualize this non-visible idea, I create physical negative space in various book structures or installations,” said Kang. “I cut out pages, burn out texts, hang prints in space or cast various containers to create a physical and metaphorical ‘emptiness.’ The important parts of the structures are absent. The absence becomes a presence in the visual objects.”
Kang, a native of Korea, received a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in Korean painting from Ewha Woman’s University in Seoul. After working as an illustrator for children’s books, she studied book arts and printmaking, receiving a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia.
Kang has presented her works in exhibitions around the world and in museums throughout the United States, Italy, Germany, Scotland, and Australia. At the Hybrid Book Fair at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia in 2009, she received three Purchase Awards from various institutions. She is the winner of the Award for Young Artist from International Competition in the Sofia (Bulgaria) Annual Paper Art in 2011-12. Her work is in the Pennsylvania State Museum permanent collections and the special collections of numerous libraries. Her work is online at www.sunyoungkang.com.
Fall gallery hours are 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Monday-Friday, 5-7 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, or by appointment. For more information, call 717-780-2435 or email Kim Banister, gallery curator, at kebanist@hacc.edu. Visit the gallery on the HACC website: www.hacc.edu under the Rose Lehrman Arts Center and on Facebook.
The Sun Young Kang exhibit is funded by the Nadar Family Fund. The Rose Lehrman Art Gallery receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.