KANG Cheolgyu

KANG Cheolgyu (b.1990) describes his work as a projection of himself. He cites the definition of "projection" from the Dictionary of Literary Criticism Terms to explain his work, which goes as follows:

"Projection refers to the psychological act of detaching thoughts, emotions, representations, desires, etc., that exist within oneself and transferring them to the external world or others, making them appear as if they exist there."

The external world mentioned here is the world within the painting, essentially constructing a fictional world to reveal oneself. This stems from the fact that, although he is greatly influenced by the fictional nature of literature and movies, the essential source is the escapist tendency inherent in him, which manifests through fiction and metaphor. In this respect, his work is an autobiographical novel, a fictional worldview derived from reality and existence. This worldview encapsulates the process of personal growth, which is presented as a series. He could be exemplified by his current engagement with hunting-related activities as a way to confront his problems, related to his desire to shed the image of a fragile self. In this way, he continues to work by borrowing characters that are projected versions of himself to form a causal structure. Separately, what he contemplates is the growth of painting. For him, narration is naturally projected, but the domain of expression proportional to research and the labor of brushwork is what reveals it. This is why his work images often change, influenced not only by the psychological factors embedded in the series but also by the desire to paint well and the accompanying research, which are decisive factors in change. The endless pursuit of better representation suggests that his work will continue to evolve.

KANG Cheolgyu was born in Gimcheon, Korea in 1990. He received his BFA in Painting and MFA in Fine Arts from Hannam University. He has held solo exhibitions at Gallery IN HQ (Seoul, Korea, 2024), Chapter II (Seoul, Korea, 2022), M2 Project-room at Lee Ungno Museum (Daejeon, Korea, 2021), Artist Residency TEMI (Daejeon, Korea, 2020), Gallery Gabi (Seoul, Korea, 2017) and so forth. He has participated in group exhibitions at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2024), Doonamjae Art Center (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Gallery Baton (Seoul, Korea, 2022), Daejeon Museum of Art (Daejeon, Korea, 2021; 2018), Galley Gabi (Seoul, Korea, 2017), Gallery Gwang, Sejong Center (Seoul, Korea, 2015) and more. He undertook the artist-in-residency program at the Artist Residency TEMI (Daejeon, Korea) in 2020 and the Studio White Block (Cheonan, Korea) in 2023. His works are in public collections in Korea such as Seoul Museum of Art, Government Art Bank National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Daejeon Museum of Art.