Block title

Description

Mina Cheon aka Kim Il Soon, Dreaming Unification: Protest Peace (Triptych Flag Figuration East Meets West, Joseonhwa Protest Art), 2019-2020, created with New IKB (Yves Klein Blue) paint, stencil, spray paint, sumi ink on canvas. 10 x 5 feet triptych, 40 x 60 x 1.5 inches each. In her dream world, artist Mina Cheon's North Korean art persona, aka "Kim Il Soon," paints the Korean national third flag, the Unification Flag, in a new body of work of flag figurations, Dreaming Unification : Protest Peace painting series. Tapping into her stream of unconsciousness to promote a future of unity and peace, flags are raised in this exhibition to recall past interKorean efforts including the Olympics, athletic teamwork, Arirang Mass Games, and other public events that celebrated “One Korea.” This is done as a protest for peace in contrast to the discouraging chaos and canceled peace talks in the Peninsula. From a series of 20 pieces completed in 2019, shared in 2020, submerged in the custom-made New IKB (Yves Klein Blue) paint, using stencil, spray, sumi ink on canvas, each flag painting is a symbolic new figuration, a body that parades in a procession for peace. At the gallery, these Unification Flags pose as figures floating in space and centering the 10 x 5 feet symphonic triptych, where East meets West in the stormy “Dreaming Unification: Protest Peace (Triptych Flag Figuration East Meets West, Joseonhwa Protest Art).” While the North Korean hermit kingdom announces its presence by blowing up the Liaison Office at Kaesong and continues to strong-arm nuclear arsenals, we know this much, there are citizens who desire communication with the outside world and risk their lives for basic human rights such as access to information and foreign media. Artist Mina Cheon’s exhibition responds to all Koreans, and highlights the demand for peace in a form of a “protest” in oppositional language to a “rally.” Please join in the efforts and view her new body of work that is about global dreaming for unification and protesting peace for surviving the chaos and strain of our daily lives.