The Drawing Room artist group based in New York is currently displaying their seventh group exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington D.C. The show is titled "Evolving, " and it includes the work of five different artists: Stephanie S. Lee, Dong Kyu Kim, Jin Cho, Jayoung Yoon, and Sueim Koo.
The Drawing Room started as an online website where artists could share images of their work and talk to other creators. Eventually, the online group started showcasing artwork in various locations. Stephanie S. Lee personally planned the Washington D.C.
exhibition back in March of 2016 and is excited to see it finally come to fruition.
Art, artworks, and exhibitions
One of the included artists, Dong Kyu Kim, is excited to show off four pieces of art that took a total of four months to complete. These pieces all involve receipts that the artist collected in the United States from 2007 to 2017. One piece titled “The United Stitches” is Dong Kyu Kim’s personal favorite.
“This piece put the overall idea into a reality,” he said. “And from this artwork, came along the following pieces. And moreover, this piece gave me the self-esteem and the strength to trust in myself.”
Dong Kyu Kim’s art centers on wrapping items in pieces of cloth called JoGakBo, which is a traditional Korean way to preserve objects.
The artist was intrigued to be part of the show which highlights the work of five such different artists who all work in different mediums, have different personalities, and characterize their art uniquely. Yet all come together nicely in this show which focuses on immigration issues; a time consuming and somewhat stressful process that the Korean-born artists know about first-hand.
Aside from this show, Dong Kyu Kim will also have art displayed at Flushing Town Hall until October 21 and work at “Queens: Envisioning Habitats” from December 16 to December 30.
Jayoung Yoon is the newest member of The Drawing Room group, and she is very excited to be part of the Washington D.C. show where she will be exhibiting two videos, two sculptures, and twenty-one 2D works; including sculptures that contain the artist’s hair!
Yet her favorite pieces are the two videos titled “Crown of Thought” and “Dreaming of Life.”
“I often use my sculptures made of human hair for videos and performances and, in the video, they return to my body with a new form of symbolism that represents my invisible thoughts,” Jayoung Yoon explained. “I usually show my works in the New York area, but it is very interesting to gain new perspectives, and hear comments about my works from the audiences in D.C.”
Jayoung Yoon has two upcoming group shows coming up. “Land and Time” will be on display in Newburgh, New York, throughout November 2017 and “Queens: Envisioning Habitats” will include pieces of her work in December.
Curating, members, and forthcoming displays
Jin Cho is yet another member of The Drawing Room that has found the group to be very beneficial to her since the members share their life experiences and thoughts and, through these connections, they have built caring relationships that emanate positive energy, which subsequently motivates creativity. Jin Cho is displaying six pieces of her carved-dough mixed media creations in Washington D.C. Her favorite is titled “Hori, ” and it resembles a bottle that was made out of tree fruits in South Korea and symbolizes the past, present, and future.
“The head of the bottle is the future, the neck part of the bottle is present, and the largest circular part is the past,” Jin Cho explained.
“It was a memorable exhibition and a great experience to visit beautiful Washington D.C. I was able to communicate directly with people about my work, and I was very happy about that.”
Jin Cho is also showing work at the “Off The Wall” show at BBCN Bank in Woodside, New York, throughout October 2017. In November, she will partake in the art auction at the gala of AHL Foundation and, in December, she will also be displaying work at “Queens: Envisioning Habitats” at the Flushing Town Hall.
Sueim Koo has been part of The Drawing Room since 2008, making her a founding member. She prepared for the Washington D.C. show for several months and was proud to display seven newly-created artworks depicting her trademark abstract landscapes in collage form.
Sueim Koo regularly works with rice paper and paints such as oils and acrylics. She regards her piece titled "One Day, Without My Knowledge, Time Took Me To This Moment” as being her favorite due to its theme of thankfulness.
“I call my art style ‘abstract memory-scapes’ and they each one holds its own story,” Sueim Koo explained. “I create dream-like images based on sentences from my journal that I have been writing since I was a teenager. I feel that my memories are filtered and purified by time, and become more strong and significant ones.”
Sueim Koo will also have art presented at Flushing Town Hall in December of 2018, and she is planning another exhibition for January of 2018.
As both an artist and a curator, Stephanie S.
Lee had the most work to do in preparation for the Washington D.C. exhibition. Since 2012, she has been dedicated to finding public exhibition spaces for The Drawing Room artists, and they currently have enjoyed six shows and counting.
“For this exhibition at the Korean Cultural Center in Washington D.C., a fellow artist friend who had group exhibition there couple years ago recommended me,” Stephanie explained. “I went on the Korean Cultural Center’s website and submitted an application for their OPEN Call. It took us about a year and a half after we submitted the application and after we got selected we scheduled the exhibit dates.”
Stephanie included five of her pieces in the show which were all inspired by Korean Folk Art called “Chaeakgado” as well as animal zodiac signs--namely, a rooster and a dog--pertaining to the years 2017 and 2018.
Her favorite piece on view is called “Cabinet of Desire III” which is her most recent debut.
Although being a curator takes a lot of hard work and dedication, Stephanie enjoys her position in The Drawing Room. She will also be showing work at the Korean Society for Color and Form’s 2017 International group exhibition at the Busan Art Center in South Korea, and her works will be displayed at the 18th Korean American Contemporary Arts, Ltd.’s group exhibition at Flushing Town Hall where she is also curating “Queens: Envisioning Habitats” in December 2017.
“Keep an eye out for Korean Folk Art .org’s first group exhibition at CHUN Gallery,” Stephanie added. “I’m really looking forward to that show and please Google ‘The Drawing Room New York’ to find our website.”
