mun-gi yang

Mun-Gi Yang was born in 1970 in Gwangju, South Korea. He graduated from Fine Arts at Chosun University.

In 2012, the artist-sculptor presented Story of LUXURY STONE at the Okgwa Art Museum in South Korea. This exhibition revealed the special attention he pays to the meaning and symbolism of the luxury bag by exploiting the aesthetic potentialities of stone. In this exhibition, 45 works proposed to question the nature of the object and the human being and the structure of social mechanisms in the elaboration of contemporary desires. These Luxury stones, although appearing at first as parodic works on Chinese counterfeit bags of big brands such as Louis Vuitton or Chanel, go well beyond a simple imitation or representation of these objects. By the very characteristics of these stone objects, the useful function of the bag disappears. By losing any functional character, the object is now transformed into a symbol object, an icon. Only the desire for possession, linked to the unique visual identity of each brand, is preserved. It is here sublimated by the stone, on the one hand polished and engraved as if it were a jewel, on the other hand retaining its raw and timeless nature proper to the statuary tradition. The hijacking therefore concerns both the modern luxury object and the material. The weight of these Luxury stones suggests just as much the massive and fetishistic nature of the consumption of luxury brands in Asia, as the human sacrifices implied by the process of production and acquisition of luxury goods. These works question the dull persistence, through the modern market economy, of a whole tradition of constraints and imperatives related to social success.



PERSONAL EXHIBITIONS:

2014

LUXURY STONE, Gallery Marie Laure of Ecotais, Paris, France

2012

STORY OF LUXURY STONE, Okgwa Art Museum, South Korea

2010

LUXURY STONE, Gallery Gowol, South Korea

2009

LUXURY STONE, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, Seoul, South Korea

2007

Lotte gallery, Gwang-ju, South Korea

1999

Yang Mun-Gi's Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition, Buk-gu Office, Gwang-ju, South Korea

GROUP EXHIBITIONS (selection)

2014

Art Paris, LOFT Gallery, Grand Palais, Paris, France

Building Life and Making, Shinsegae Gallery, Gwang-ju, South Korea

2013

LOFTISSIMES, LOFT Gallery, Paris, France

Performance - Fun exhibition in the street, Paris, France

Performance - Fun exhibition in the street, Lyon, France

2012

MIRACLE OF ART, AK Gallery, Suwon, Korea

PROGRESS. TRANSPERCER, Gwang Ju Art Museum, Gwang-ju, South Korea

VOGUE MOMENT, Seoul National University Museum of Art (MoA), Seoul, South Korea

2011

ART IN CAPITAL, Grand Palais, Paris, France

SNBA 2011, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France

ART ROUTE 77 - WITH ART, WITH ARTIST!, Hangil Gallery, South Korea

ARTIST BRAND, GAMO Gallery, South Korea

PIERRE JARDIN, Lotte Gallery, South Korea

2010

SNBA 2010, Carrousel du Louvre, Paris, France

SUPER HEROES: FASHION & FANTASY, Lotte Avenuel, Seoul, South Korea

LUXURY, Cultural Museum of Dongshin University, Naju, South Korea

2009

ART & PLAY -ART IN SUPERSTAR, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, South Korea

BluedotAsia, Seoul Art Center, Seoul, South Korea

SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), Ryu Sook Gallery Park, KOEX, Seoul, South Korea

Korea Galleries Art Fair, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, BEXCO, Busan, South Korea

2008

Zero base. Action. Art, Market of Deain, Gwang-ju, South Korea

KIAF (International Art Fair in South Korea), Park Ryu Sook Gallery, KOEX, Seoul, South Korea

ART Singapore 2008 Fair, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, Suntec, Singapore

Sh Contemporary, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China

Asia Top Gallery Art Fair 2008, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, Tokyo, Japan

SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), Ryu Sook Gallery Park, KOEX, Seoul, South Korea

A PRELUDE OF MAY, Gwang-ju Art Museum, Gwang-ju, South Korea

Korea Galleries Art Fair, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, BEXCO, Busan, South Korea

2007

NY ACAF (Asian Contemporary Art Fair), Park Ryu Sook Gallery, NY, U.S.A.

SOAF (Seoul Open Art Fair), Ryu Sook Gallery Park, KOEX, Seoul, South Korea

Daegu Art Fair, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, EXCO, Daegu, South Korea

Contemporary Sh, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Shanghai Exhibition Center, Shanghai, China

Seoul Art Fair, Ryu Sook Gallery Park, Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea

A field of Gwang-ju Art, Gwang-ju Museum of Art, Gwang-ju, South Korea

CREATIVE STUDION, Museum of Gwang-ju, Kumnamro Art Museum, Gwang-ju, South Korea

CONCEPTION + NOTHING, Okwa Art Museum, Korea

There are artists close to us at the Open Studio Festival, Lotte Gallery, Gwang-ju, South Korea

Open Studio 3, Gwang-ju, South Korea

Look at an Ancesto