Yongrae Kwon

Kwon Yongrae has been researching relief work using light since his university days in the 1980s. The artist expresses his works as 'light', not as something introduced to complete a piece, but as the material and expression technique itself. He creates spaces on the canvas for light to inhabit rather than depicting light itself. Since 2004, the artist has been using stainless steel sculptures, the material best suited to express and contain light, as the primary material for his fusion works of painting and relief. Dozens or hundreds of stainless steel pieces, hammered countless times, are rhythmically filled by the movement of light. The illusions and shadows created through the reflection of moving light juxtapose to form a singular shape. The variations of light, manifested through the stainless steel's coldness and warmth, depict various aspects of life. Kwon Yongrae graduated from the Department of Painting and the Graduate School of Seoul National University. Starting with Yoon Gallery in 1989, he has held solo exhibitions at galleries such as Gallery Simon(1995, 1998, 2006), Seonggok Museum of Art(2001), Geumsan Gallery(2016), Gallery BK(2021), and Gallery Beatree(2023). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions and art fairs both domestically and internationally, including those at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art(1990), Seoul Museum of Art(2008), Jeonbuk Provincial Museum of Art(2011), Seoul National University Museum of Art 2017), and Sehwa Museum of Art(2023). His works are held in prestigious institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Samsung Foundation for Culture, Seoul Museum of Art and National Art Museum of China in Beijing.