Jury’s Statement

The nomination process for this year’s DOOSAN Artist Award in Visual Arts was the same as the previous years. The three jury members each nominated three candidates whose work ranged widely in medium: from painting to sculpture/installation to video and to sound/media art. Based on the award’s objective of supporting artists under age 40, the nominees ranged from their late 20s to 30s. However, the jury’s consideration converged on nominees in their mid-30s, whose practices embodied relatively developed narratives. As always, the artists varied in tendency and interest, but some reflected on issues that surfaced and gained attention recently, such as the re-examination of sculpture, paintings of the post-internet era, post-human discussions, and experimentation with time and sound as data. 

Selecting the winner came about with little debate. This was possible because, unlike in previous years, there were duplicate nominations this year of candidates who had also been recognized by judges of earlier years. This allowed for a primary agreement across the jury about the level of work to be considered and the qualifications of some nominees. Nevertheless, for a fair process, the jury had its usual secondary round of reviews that consisted of evaluating nomination statements for each candidate and discussing any questions or concerns. In the end, to no surprise, Heemin Chung, who had received numerous nominations, was named the winner. The jury not only evaluated whether the selection was in line with the objective and character of the DOOSAN Artist Award but also crucially considered if the award would serve the artist as an opportunity for further advancement. 

On the one hand, the jury was concerned that the award could present further privilege to Heemin Chung, a young artist who is already in the spotlight and has won recognition and awards from many other organizations. On the other hand, however, the jury concluded that the overseas residency opportunity included with the award could help an artist who has worked mainly in Korea to gain new insight and take a leap forward—that the residency opportunity could be more meaningful for Chung compared to other artists who have had more international exposure. In addition, the small proportion of previously winning painters to photographers or video artists, due to the award’s emphasis on contemporaneity, contributed to Heemin Chung’s selection.

A rapidly growing painter since her debut in 2015, Heemin Chung has used the medium of painting to investigate the changes in the way images exist and are perceived since the popularization of digital devices. Among contemporary artists who deal with the production/circulation/consumption of images, Heemin Chung stands out in that she combines her research of post-internet sensibilities with that of the painting medium in considerable depth and balance. In particular, the fact that she explores the properties of digital images and the resulting mediumistic and perceptive changes through a traditional medium makes Heemin Chung an exemplary contemporary painter. More than that, the sheer quantity of work Chung can produce for each exhibition and that she introduces new formal experiments every time raises expectations for the possibility of her continued advancement. For instance, Chung represents the various aspects of digital imagery by piecemealing fragments of different textures in a thin layer over canvas. However, the fact that such an approach does not become a recurring style or stay within the boundaries of the canvas is what makes Chung’s work so eclectic. That is, Chung’s media experiment revolves around but is not confined to painting. Namely, her experiments extend across all media in the forms of physical variation of the canvas, arrangement of multiple canvases on a plane, combination [of painting] with video, expanding the form of a flat surface by rolling or suspending it, and more than that, utilizing three-dimensionality, video, and virtual reality.

The jury hopes this award and the overseas residency opportunity do not become another task to complete or pressure to perform for Heemin Chung. Rather, the jury looks forward to the award providing the artist with the time for internal revitalization and a springboard to launch ahead so that she can pause, catch her breath, and slowly recuperate into her journey for her future practice and methodology. The jury extends its deep congratulations to Heemin Chung. 
 

_Jury: Seong Eun Kim, Jiyeon Kim, Mun Hye Jin