Exhibition from Sept. 4th - Sept. 25th, 2021
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 4th, 1-4 pm
Open by appointment at laarcorepress@yahoo.com
Contact Pranay Reddy
Email: info@laartcore.org
Ph: (310) 598-8867
Union Center for the Arts Building, Little Tokyo
Exhibiting Artists:
Sheri Ki Sun Burnham, Yun J. Choi, Koojah Kim, Sunny H. Kim, Won Sil Kim, Young Ku Park, Caroline Yoo
Arirang is a centuries-old folk song that is seen as expressing the identities and aspirations of the people of Korea. It talks about the wisdom of living in peace and harmony with one’s environment. The existence of Arirang is ever-changing. It is a constant living and breathing entity; reborn and interpreted fluidly and widely, with even mainstream Korean pop music groups like BTS performing it.
The meaning behind “Arirang” is a strong desire to live harmoniously with your environment; however, this folk song’s meaning is nuanced behind a nostalgia of belonging that is infinitely ever changing and evolving alongside those who sing it.
Each piece in Diaspora: Arirang works as an iteration of an innate Korean aesthetic from the viewpoint of the immigrant diasporic identity that hopes to create and open conversations to induce internal harmony within the Korean diaspora that has since been growing gaps of ideologies made through generations and geography to create a sense of community. –Collective statement by the artists of the Airirang Exhibit
LA Artcore is pleased to present Diaspora Arirang 2, a 2nd half to the event’s inaugural exhibit at Shatto Gallery, Los Angeles.
Like its artists who work across painting, video, mixed media, and sculpture, the art of Arirang 2 inhabits spaces between two countries, cultures, histories, and trajectories. The exhibit traces the perspectives of its artists within continual processes of reconstructing oneself between identification of the past and creating the future. The exhibit’s artists trace both Korea’s artistic traditions and its recent developments while also being in dialog with European and North-American legacies and movements. The exhibit maps each artist’s geographical, cultural and generational positioning within the diasporic framework, and tells a story about what threads the contemporary Korean diasporic experience.
Sheriann Ki Sun came to the U.S. in 1961. She received a BFA from Cal State Long Beach in 1982. Her artworks have been exhibited across Southern California, the U.S., and internationally. Sun also works as a graphic designer. www.studiokisun.com
Yun J. Choi was born in Busan, South Korea in 1968. She received her BFA from Kyunghee University in 1991 before immigrating to the U.S. Choi is widely exhibited in the U.S. Europe, and Korea, and also works as an interior designer, and arts educator. www.yunjchoiart.com
Koojah Kim came to the U.S. in 1968 after graduating from the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National Unviersity. Kim Continued her studies at California College of the Arts and Crafts in Oakland, California. Kim Spent 20 years as a senior artist for the American Greeting Corporation, and has spent the past 20 years focused solely on her studio practice. She has had three solo exhibits, and is widely exhibited in the U.S. and abroad. www.koojahkim.com
Sunny H. Kim received her BFA from the College of the Arts at Seoul National University. She immigrated to the U.S. in 1966 and continued her studies at the Parsons School of the Design, New York, and the Fashion Institute of Design & merchandising, Los Angeles. Kim is widely exhibited in the U.S. and throughout Asia. Kim’s paintings are in the permanent collection of the Korean National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) and the National Assembly in Seoul, Korea. www.sunnyhkim.art
Won Sil Kim received her MFA at SungShin Women’s University Graduate School in Seoul, Korea. She served as the president of the Southern California Korean Artists Association in 2004 and 2005, and served as president of the Southern California Korean Catholic artists Association in 2007 and 2009. Kim is widely exhibited in the U.S. and abroad and currently serves as a board member at SoLA Contemporary. www.wonsilkim.com
Young Ku Park immigrated to the U.S. in 2003 and graduated with a BFA from Seoul National University. He continued his studies at California State University Fullerton, and California State University Long Beach. Park is widely exhibited in Southern California and works with Kimchi as his current subject. www.youngkupark.com
Caroline Yoo is an artist performing history and archiving the present. Born to Korean immigrants in Lawrence, Kansas, Yoo’s past informs her practice of engaging with personal ritual based on lived customs, re-enactment of history in both mythology and subjective nonfiction, as well as finding alternate modes of catharsis in a dominant hegemonic society. Yoo graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BFA in 2017 and was based in Los Angeles before enrolling in the MFA program at Carnegie Mellon School of Art (2023). She has performed and exhibited at the LA Art show, Sacred Wounds, FEMMEBIT, Culturehub LA, CICA Musuem, Landmark’s Tivoli Theater, and more. www.carolineyoo.com
For more info visit: laartcore.org