The Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C. (KCCDC) presents Transcending Boundaries: Discovering Contemporary Korean Artists, a new exhibition of 50 sensuous works spanning painting, sculpture, installation, and holograms that explore a new collective understanding of materiality, reality, and human emotion.

Works by Sung Jin Min, Hwang Nam Kyu, Kim Min Jeong, Park Jae Young, Shin So Young, and Kim Jung Wuk each stem from the artists’ personal experiences yet employ a diverse array of methods and materials to express emotion and memory, often within each piece.

By emphasizing the qualities inherent to each medium, such as paint texture, subtle hues and light effects, perception of space, or the surface of sculpture, the artists encourage viewers to experience the artwork through their senses rather than fixed or preconceived interpretations. Such a sensory reading—layered on top of subtle cultural cues and rich symbolism in the subject matter of each piece—opens the door to new ways of both communicating and perceiving personally expressive works of art.

Through this diverse collection of creative and self-reflective works, visitors can also transcend cultural boundaries to gain a deeper understanding of Korean life and emotions through the artistic lens of these six emerging artists.

Transcending Boundaries goes on view March 5 through April 10, 2026 at the KCCDC and launches with a public opening reception on Thursday, March 5, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. (RSVP required). Attendees at the opening will be among the first to view the exhibition and enjoy a light Korean refreshments.

Transcending Boundaries: Discovering Contemporary Korean Artists

Korean Cultural Center Washington, D.C.

Exhibition: March 5 - April 10, 2026

Opening Reception: Thursday, March 5, 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. (RSVP required)

OPENING RECEPTION RSVP COMING SOON! 

About the Exhibition

Transcending Boundaries is presented in three thematic sections that reflect diverse perspectives on each artist’s subjective inner world, as well as the relationship between material and immaterial aspects of both their artistic medium and underlying emotions.

Gallery 1 introduces three artists whose practices are shaped by inner psychological states. Sung Jin Min’s paintings capture life’s fleeting moments in time, translated into abstract static forms on canvas. Hwang Nam Kyu explores the materiality of his medium through glistening sculptural works created by repeatedly rubbing the surface by hand. Kim Min Jeong expresses emotion through painting, presenting works that evoke sensations preserved in the artist’s memory.

Gallery 2 focuses on works that emphasize painterly qualities and vivid color. Park Jae Young presents synesthetic paintings that engage both visual and tactile perception, while Shin So Young’s paintings explore the depths of human emotion and interpersonal relationships.

Gallery 3 presents artworks centered on the imperfect relationship between reality and perception. This gallery features newly produced hologram and light-based works by Kim Jung Wuk, in which visual elements seem to appear and disappear, creating an immersive spatial experience.

About the Artists (additional details below)

Sung Jin Min records the flow of time. On the canvas, multiple layers of color are repeatedly applied, representing different states of time. By capturing such moments, as perceived by the artist, the works visually express a sense of temporal continuity.

Hwang Nam Kyu explores the materiality of material. His sculptures are completed through the repetitive act of rubbing the surface by hand, a physical process that resonates with the healing of wounds. He begins his practice with the concept of “skinship,” refining imperfect materials and transforming them into new sculptural forms.

Kim Min Jeong reveals emotion through painting. His practice begins with confronting memories rooted in personal experiences and sensations embedded within the inner self. Figures depicted on his canvas may exhibit expressionless faces, and their bodies are often distorted or floating in space. Though vaguely recognizable as human forms, these incomplete and ambiguous images invite multiple interpretations.

Park Jae Young creates synesthetic paintings that engage senses of both vision and touch. By objectifying imagery derived from knitting, his compositions emphasize the tactile, textured qualities of textiles. Familiar and warm imagery that is easily recognized jumps out from his canvases, further amplifying the visual sensibility inherent in painting.

Shin So Young’s artistically depicted wings convey human emotion, relationships, and the longing for one’s dreams. Rather than emphasizing functionality, these wings signify the power that emerges when two come together. The artist visualizes solidarity and love formed through relationships between individuals, embracing the beauty of connection.

Kim Jung Wuk works with holograms. He creates experiences in which illumination appears and disappears within the exhibition space, allowing viewers to directly perceive the gap between reality and unreality.

Sung Jin Min

Stroll

Acrylic on canvas, 45.9x35.8in, 2023

Hwang Nam Kyu

Sweet Dream

FRP, Stainless steel, Bronze, Acrylic, 20x20x27cm (9.8x9.8x13.7in), 2024

Kim Min Jeong

Withering II

Oil on canvas, 40x40cm (15.7x15.7in), 2025

Park Jae Young
Woolscape - Houseboats
Oil on canvas, 65x50cm (25.5x19.6 inch), 2023

Shin So Young

Shape of the Heart 202201

25.6 x 20.9 inch, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2022

Kim Jung Wuk

LAYER

Optical hologram, 40cmx50cm, 2023

About the Artists (detail)

Sung Jin Min is an abstract painter whose work explores the nature of time and the subtle traces of sensations that appear and quietly disappear. She received her BFA and MFA in Painting from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul and later earned her MFA from the University of Pennsylvania. Since then, she has presented her work in solo and group exhibitions in Seoul, New York, and various international art fairs. She currently works between Korea and the United States while also directing Gallery Knot.

Rather than presenting defined imagery or narrative, Sung’s paintings unfold through layered color fields, softened edges, and moments of translucency. Colors accumulate, overlap, and dissolve across the surface, suggesting not a fixed moment but the lingering residue of experience. For the artist, time is not a stable or measurable entity; it is a fluid and shifting flow of perception that continuously gathers and transforms. Standing before her work, viewers are not asked to decode a specific meaning. Instead, they are invited to pause and allow their own memories and emotions to surface. The subtle variations in tone and depth create a space where perception unfolds gradually. Meaning emerges not instantly, but through quiet attention.

Hwang Nam Gyu (artist name: ARO) was born in a rural village in Sacheon, North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea. He majored in sculpture at Dong-A University in Busan and, after graduating, moved to the Seoul metropolitan area, where he continues his artistic practice. He has held solo exhibitions at Jeongsu Gallery (2025), Gallery Nut (2024), and Topohaus (2023), and has participated in domestic and international art fairs including Superfine Art Fair (Washington, D.C.) and Aqua Art Miami.

Hwang balances commercial and artistic work, channeling the resulting deficiencies and energy into his creations. He explores the concept of physical intimacy, translating the sensations of connection, communion, and healing into sculptural language. Using symbolic forms like apples, animals, the human body, and mountains, he expresses the wounds and recovery processes experienced in relationships. Through repetitive sculptural actions of rubbing and filling surfaces, he narrates the healing journey of enduring and overcoming injury. Recently he has expanded his sculptural exploration to contemplate how nature is wounded by human desires and purposes, and its recovery.

Kim Min Jeong was born in South Korea. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Western Painting from Cheongju University’s College of Arts and completed a master's degree in Western Painting at Chung-Ang University’s Graduate School of Fine Arts. She has held solo exhibitions primarily in Seoul and participated in group exhibitions across Korea, including in Suwon and Ulsan. Kim was selected as an emerging artist by the Seoul Arts Center which featured her work in the exhibition program. She has expanded her scope of activity through art fairs held in Seoul and Busan.

Kim reveals deep emotion through painting. Her practice begins with confronting memories rooted in personal experiences and sensations embedded within the inner self.

Park Jae Young was born in 1973 in South Korea and is currently based in Seoul. He received his BFA in Western Painting from Chung-Ang University and completed his MFA at the same institution. In 2021, he received the Painting Award at the London Art Biennale and was selected three consecutive times for the Aesthetica Art Prize (Future Now). His major exhibitions include Scope Miami Beach, AQUA Art Miami, KunstRai Amsterdam, and Art the Hague, and he has participated in international art fairs and biennales in Seoul, London, New York, Milan, Taipei, and Hong Kong. His works have been presented at Christie’s Hong Kong and K Auction, and are held in corporate and private collections internationally.

Park is renowned for his hyper-realistic “woolscapes,” meticulously painted landscapes that use strands of wool as a central motif to explore themes of memory, human connection, and the passage of time. His restrained color palette and layered brushwork reflect deep inquiry into the sensorial qualities of surfaces and the emotional resonance of repetition. His practice bridges the tactile and the conceptual, transforming ordinary materials and visual elements into new sensations through color and texture.

Shin So Young graduated from Sookmyung Women’s University in Seoul and its Graduate School of Fine Arts. She has expanded her practice across a wide range of media, including sculpture, animation, digital art, and painting, and has taught at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Sejong University, and the Graduate School of Education at Sookmyung Women’s University.

Shin is a contemporary artist who explores human emotions and relationships through the motif of wings. Her free and distinctive wing forms reflect each individual’s journey toward their dreams while also expressing the organic connections that bring people together.

Kim Jung Wuk completed a master's degree in holography at the Korea National University of Arts. He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in immersive content at Kwangwoon University, continuing diverse research to share three-dimensional visual experiences with the public. For the past 13 years, using holography as his primary medium, Kim has reinterpreted everyday objects through this lens. Based in Heyri Art Village, Korea, he has been actively working both domestically and internationally, including in Japan, the United States, and Dubai, building a unique artistic world that combines scientific technology with artistic sensibility. Born with congenital amblyopia, Kim’s unique visual experience led to fundamental questions about existence and perception, which he explores artistically.