Chicago Artist InJung Oh Opens Bridgeport gallery

Check out ACS Gallery exclusive artist InJung Oh in Sophisticated Living Chicago at http://digital.slmag.net/i/894715-nov-dec-2017/29

InJung Oh

Korean American, InJung Oh is a female artist, resident at Zhou B Art Center, and creator of Contemporary art space “Volossom.” She was born in South Korean in 1982, and moved to The US at the age of 13. She earned both a MFA (2009) and a BFA (2005) with a full scholarship (2001--‐2005) and Fellowship in Honor (2005) from the School of the Art Institute Of Chicago, with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing. After graduation, Oh continues to exhibit widely in Chicago and abroad. She has had solo exhibitions at the Union League Chicago, Zhou B Art Center (Chicago), Ed Pachke Art Center (Chicago), MIIT Museum (Turin), and Bluerider Art Gallery (Taipei). Her most recent project focus is to develop Volossom, a multifaceted art space in Bridgeport, Chicago. We wish to present and collaborate on visual art projects creating both a psychological and spiritual space where the viewer can experience to find balance in life through arts.

Work Statement

Using various symbolisms and abstractions, Oh creates a psychological and spiritual space through art to pause and release a sense of balance in the face of a world filled with gender and cultural tensions. In her works, Oh searches to find answers to the contradiction of her multiple cultural identities. These include being a woman who grew up in a traditional Korean family and living with a Chinese family in a Western society. One of the symbolisms Oh has created is a visual representation of an ideal female figure as a beacon for herself. With the vision of the female figure, seen by the artist herself, floating in the sky as a giant flower, Oh started the world of “Volossom.” In prefix English, “Vol” which means wish/will. By combining “blossom” and “Vol,” the artist has given the word the meaning of “blossom as a manifestation of wish or will.” The sense of balance she seeks also lies within the physical work process. In the Sculptural Painting series, Oh cuts incisions into the canvas and dips it in multiple layers of media such as resin, liquid plastic, acrylic, oils, and others to harden it. Then she lets gravity transform its flat shape into a structure. As a result, the canvas is released from its original flat state. Blowing oils on canvas creates another series “Leaves of Life.” For Oh, the concentration it takes to control the breath guiding the oil marks occupies the moment, and fulfills it with peace. The concept of “release” is consistent through out all these works, allowing the artist to relieve herself from the inside out. “Art is one of the most precious objects that feeds our lives and we need to feed off of art to balance life.” – InJung Oh.