JUNGHI HAN  

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EDUCATION

2005 - LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY, M.F.A. NEW YORK

1986 - STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY, ART HISTORY, B.F.A. SWEDEN

1983 - STOCKHOLM UNIVERSITY, SWEDISH, B.F.A. SWEDEN

1981 - GRAND CHAUMIER ACADEMY, PARIS, FRANCE

1979 - PERMBY’S FINE ART COLLEGE, STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN

1978 - SUNGSHIN UNIVERSITY, M.A. SEOUL, KOREA

1977 - SUNGSHIN UNIVERSITY, B.F.A. SEOUL, KOREA

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ARTIST STATEMENT

Junghi Han is a multi-media artist who is exhibiting her nature paintings in this show. However, whether she is engaging with the painted idiom or sculptural installation, Han is usually dealing with the issue of spirituality and the transcendence of material existence. Consequently, when she produces flowering trees they stand as metaphors for the cycle of life and the transmigration of the soul, but can also be read as symbols of enlightenment. Some of her landscapes are bereft of blossoms and bright color as are some of the Voice of Nature series works that appear as snowbound areas of ice floes and other suggestive elements of icy winter. 

 

Although the Voice of Nature series is comprised of abstract works they offer their own possible readings; a ghost galley ship stranded on ice, or a partially destroyed city containing several vertical shapes read as buildings evidenced by Voice of Nature series. The Taoist paradise is usually represented with flowering trees and abundant rustic scenery as some of Han’s canvases exemplified by Voice of Nature, 2013 (Acrylic on Canvas, 36x48”) whose white purity is relieved by yellow mimosa-like round blossoms. The blossoming trees are signaling the end of frosty winter and filling the air with their scent and the eye with pleasure. Chinese legend has it that every woman is represented by a particular tree or flower in the next world. The color of cherry trees is much appreciated by artists and poets who extol its ruby tones; emblems of the fair sex. In her painting Voice of Nature, 2013, Han combines her Eastern roots seen in the flowering bushes of the foreground and the white nights atmosphere of her adoptive country of Sweden. Here, the background sky is bright turquoise with touches of white containing small houses dotting the middle ground, while the city on the far right, appears dark, and densely populated with tall buildings. The foreground is full of pink and red flowers dispelling the winter chill. The Voice of Nature paintings can be compared to nature in their elegance, their beautiful coloristic symphonies magically suggesting not only the return of abundance and springtime but also the return of hope.

 

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