2GIL29 GALLERY presents “TeaTime” by Nanan (b. 1979), from March 18 to April 22. A lot of artists have shown works that connect life and art, but among those many artists, especially Nanan Kang thinks that the true meaning of art lies in sharing, communicating and empathizing in various ways in life. Starting as a senior reporter and illustrator in the street culture magazine <Lunchbox>, she has built her solid career as chief editor and art director in commercial art field. Nanan realized the importance of communication though ‘Window painting’ project and started the series “Long Long Time Flower”, a paper flower works with unabated love and gratitude, and has presented <Nanan’s Flower Shop>as in the form of performance art at Art Busan by 2GIL29 GALLERY in 2019.

In her solo exhibition with 2GIL29 GALLERY starting from March 18 until April 22 in 2023, a new series of devoted paintings will announce a new prelude as an artist. She experiences Korean tea culture, brewing within different taste, and savoring, as well as meditating that led to the tea culture. The exhibition was named as “TeaTime” due to her realization of the similarities between the moments of empathizing different preferences in enjoying tea and art.

This new series of works shines with a new aesthetic perspective that only Nanan can express by combining Hanji after a long search and experience, which they are deeply melted into her works. With her continued interest in the vitality of nature, the motif of this new work also originated from plum blossom. Plum blossom is not a colorful flower, but the subtle charm of the flower, the smudging of ink-and-wash paintings, and the curve that naturally slides from the fingertips are beautifully combined, making the work as the ‘Four Gracious Plants’.

Nanan Kang especially emphasized the necessity of its genre, focusing on the story that only paintings can tell. She expressed her high expectation for the exhibition, saying that she was able to convey her own narratives through a close interaction between objects and backgrounds that can be acquired within the genre, new relationships created by them, and further expanded narratives. Her new works will give blessing and more vividness to a lot of people who are enduring the difficult times of the endemic period to bring positivity and hopeful energy. She will reaffirm her true charm and talent as an artist presenting her works of solid philosophy.

About the artist

Born in 1979. Nanan Kang’s real name is Minkyung Kang. She studied Creative Advertising at Seoul Institute of the Arts and Arts Management at Cyber University of Korea. Nanan, often referred to as a visual artist and a window painter, has an outstanding career in commercial art. After graduating from Seoul Institute of the Arts, she started her career as a chief reporter and an illustrator in the street culture magazine Lunch Box and continued to successfully develop her career taking important positions including a chief editor in KAI and so forth. She has not only engaged in a large number of significant projects with KBS, MTV, Shinsegae, Samsung, Adidas, and many more, and in oversea projects in Hong Kong, New York, London, and etc. as an art director. Also, her career in fine art began from Window Painting and gradually developed through a series of works of Nanan Gardening, Window Tree, and it is now shining out with her latest series Long Long Time Flower. Window Painting is her first project that led her to the world of fine art which provides us with a key idea helping us to have a better understanding of her world of art. She happened to draw on the window and to find that the drawing brought the desolate city to life, and that was when she got down to the window drawing. Her work often acts as a catalyst in a closed relationship bringing about a creative energy, which means her works are not complete beings but exist in limitless variability and can only be defined in an organic relationship with viewers.

She unfolds a more refined world of art since the beginning of the series, Long Long Time Flower. The Long Long Time Flower, a paper flower which never withers away, delivers the message of harmony and coexistence that steps further from the open relationship leaving the door open for good interaction. And it reveals her genuine affection and responsibility, and her hope to change this world into a place that encompasses not only human society but also all living things of animals and plants. In an interview, she says art is more valuable when we share and communicate through it. She thinks that art is not only confined to a gallery but omnipresent anywhere we make connections and communicate with each other in various manner, and until today she has been working on making a vibrant environment around us.