Gang Yong-myeon Solo Exhibition 'Keiban Sapsi' to be Held at Seoul Branch of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art from the 23rd
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Lee ByungJae(2025-10-23 15:55:08)
Solo exhibition "Keiban Sapsi (啓飯插匙)" by installation artist Kang Yong-myeon will be held from October 23 to November 2 at the Seoul Branch of Jeonbuk Provincial Museum in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
The artist, based on the norms of Confucian life, has incorporated the principles of propriety (禮) and law (法度) learned within Confucianism as the foundation of his art. He interprets Confucius' teaching of "learning from the past to understand the new (溫故知新)" into contemporary visual language. His representative series "On the Table" visualizes this philosophy by reconstructing traditional rice bowls and ritualistic symbols with modern materials and colors, exploring the aesthetic and spiritual aspects of Korean beauty.
"Keiban Sapsi" is an extension of this concept, expanding the ritualistic act of "opening the rice lid and placing the spoon" into an artistic proposition. The term "Keiban Sapsi," mentioned in "Sangrye Biyo (喪禮備要)," refers to the procedure of opening the rice lid and placing the spoon before offering ancestral rites. The artist interprets this as an act of "awakening the disappearing relationship with tradition," constructing a space that connects life and death, past, and present through rice bowls, spoons, and dishes.
The new work "On the Table - Gobongbap" (2025) presented in this exhibition is a large installation composed of bronze, wood, and colored dishes, visualizing the dining table of a royal kitchen. The rice bowl gently enclosed like a round mountain symbolizes the meaning of offering and the symbol of Korean abundance. Another piece, "On the Table - Perilla Leaves" (2025), originates from the artist's mother's lifelong cultivation of perilla leaves, visualizing the aesthetics of simple daily care and ecological circulation.
Born in Kimje, Jeonbuk in 1957, Kang Yong-myeon has been exploring the identity and inevitability of Korean art through the movement of seeking Korean essence in the 1980s.
