Born in 1987 in Seoul, South Korea, artist Sang A Han lives and works in her hometown.
In her practice, Sang A Han explores the contemporary adaptation of eastern ink painting. Soft sculptures and layered paintings made with Meok (India ink), cotton fabric, and thread are the result of an intimate reinterpretation of tradition through a performative process of creating.
Some of her works refer to traditional Korean paintings, such as the Sansu-hwa, the landscape paintings of the Josen era, and the Gwaneum-do, the Buddhist icon painting which mirrors the religious wishes for blessings. While these paintings were practiced usually by male artists in the past, Sang A Han presents the creative reinterpretation of the inheritance with sewing, embroidery and textiles – the techniques traditionally considered women’s house works.
Sang A Han’s research is inspired by her everyday experiences and the emotions she encounters throughout her life as an artist, woman and mother. Rather than constructing logical, organized narratives, the artist portrays fragmented memories and contradicting emotions in her own figurative and symbolic visual language, focusing above all on the contradiction of love. She transforms segments of thought and emotion into surrealistic scenes with outstretched and praying hands, and symbols that suggest a mythological or religious context, together with organic shapes and lines. According to the artist, “line is the essence of traditional Korean painting”. Han uses the brush and needle that respond directly to her body in order to paint her inner landscape. Just as the bodily strength of gripping and moving the brush is reflected in lines drawn with Meok, the lines of thread – which vary with how strongly or quickly they are pulled and tied – reveal the performative process by which the artist creates her pieces.

Galleria Fumagalli will dedicate a solo show to Sang A Han in spring 2024

Image: Sang A Han, portrait, © MJK