Sojung Kwon

Sojung Kwon was born in Seoul, Korea.  She currently lives and works in the Los Angeles area. She received her BFA and MFA from Sungshin Women’s University, Seoul in 2002; in addition, Kwon obtained an MFA from Otis School of Art and Design in Los Angeles, California in 2007.

After moving to Los Angeles, Kwon noticed different public receptions of her work between East and West.  Her position as an outsider in both cultures made her want to explore the cultural, rational and linguistic discrepancy between cultures. As a performance artist, sculptor, multi-media artist, and global citizen, she uses various symbolic props and playful banality to investigate social structures.  Kwon is interested in what happens when people encounter inverted social conventions: the normal becoming strange, the fair becoming unfair, white becoming gray. Her performance often invites the audience to participate in familiar social activities while her actions occupy spaces of non-communicative engagement.

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EDUCATION & RESIDENCIES

2010 MacDowell Colony Residency Fellowship, New Hampshire

2008 Can Serrat International Art Center, Barcelona

2008 Sandberg Institute Artist Residency, Amsterdam

2010 Angels Gate Cultural Center Studio Artist. San Pedro

2007 Master of Fine Arts, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles

2004 Master of Sculpture, Sung Shin Women’s University, Seoul

2002 Bachelor of Sculpture, Sung Shin Women’s University, Seoul

SELECTED SOLO PERFORMANCE PROJECTS & EXHIBITION

2013
-“New Work” Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles CA February
2010
-“New Work”, Porter Gallery, Long Beach, CA, September
-“ Planning a Year – Mondays”, The Tahoe Gallery at Sierra Nevada College, Incline  Village, NV, August
-“Planning a Year- Mondays & Sundays”, Angels Gate Cultural Center Gallery A, San Pedro, California, March
2009
-“Planning a Year (한해 계획 세우기)”, Gallery Dam, Samchung-dong, Seoul Korea, November
-“Rolling a Ball (Sojung Kwon 2005-2009), Insa Art Space of the Arts Council Korea,  Seoul Korea, August
2008
-"One day Arty Show", SummerFish Project, Seoul Korea, December
2007
- "Thousand Dollar Project #2", 'Women Artists in Action', SomArts Cultural Center Bay Gallery and San Francisco City Hall, San Francisco, California, September
- "Thousand Dollar Project" Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, California, February
2006
- "Drawing a Line", 'Reno Interdisciplinary Festival of New Media", University of Nevada Reno and The Nevada Museum of Art, Wayne and Miriam Prim Theater, Reno, Nevada, November
- "Drawing a Moment" and "Fish Piece", 'Double Take', Gallery Duo LA Downtown, Los Angeles, California, July
- "Being An Alien", 'Search for extra - Terrestrial Intelligence', Gallery Miccle, Seoul, June
2003
- "The Flat Man", Insa Gallery, Seoul, May

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2011

-“Pet Bag Project”, Barter Town(Trading Post VII), Dumbo Fest, Brooklyn, New York, September

2010

-“I Have a Light”, S1F Gallery, Los Angeles, California, December

-“Eternal Telethon”, Machine Project, Los Angeles, California, November

-“To Live and Draw in LA” , Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, California, November

-“Doin it Live: Performance and Interaction”, Wrinkled Space, Los Angeles,   California, January

2009

-"Songeun Award Exhibition", Songeun Museum, Seoul, Korea, July, '09

-"You make me laugh" S1F Gallery, Los Angeles, California, May, '09

- "A series of Clandestine Performance"Collaboration with Anthony Carfello, LA art show, Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, January, '09

2008

-'Multiple Feeds', Democracy Forum at the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy, Los Angeles Downtown, California, October, '08

- 'New in Town?', Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, California, June, '08

- 'The First Annual Otis /Sandberg Institute Exchange Program Exhibition' in conjunction with De Kunstvlaai Amsterdam, Westergasfabriek Amsterdam, Netherlands, May, '08

2007

- 'Greater LA MFA' Exhibition2007, Cal state Long Beach, Long Beach, California, September, '07

- '1st Annual juried show' by juror Jorge J.Pardo, Threehouse Gallery, LA Downtown, California, August, '07

- 'Open Call LA 2007', LA Municipal Gallery, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles, California, July, '07

- 'On Site at the Gate 2007' by Juror Aimee Chang, Angels Gate Cultural Center, San Pedro, California, April, '07

- 'Resolution', Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, California, January, '07

2006

- 1st Korean National juried Online Exhibition

- 'Greater LA Master of Fine Art Exhibition & Film Screening', California state University Long Beach, Long Beach, California, August, '06

- ' 6147'show, Los Angeles, California, July, '06

- '4 persons video screening and performance show', Mae Bong space, Seoul, June, '06

- 'Mid Residency show', Bolsky Gallery, Los Angeles, California, May, '06

2004

- 'Sungshin Sculpture association exhibition', Moran Gallery, Seoul, June, '04

2003

- 'Two person's Short Film Exhibition', Seoul Municipal Museum, Seoul, January, '03

2002

- 'Sukchon Lake outdoor sculpture Exhibition', Seoul

- 'Sungshin MFA Mid Residency Exhibition', Duckwon Gallery,Seoul , June, '02

2001

- 'Sungshin University Graduate Exhibition', Sujeung Gallery,Seoul, November, '01

GRANTS & FELLOWSHIP

2010
- Arts Council Korea Visual Artist 2008 Fellowship (Residency support)

2009
- Insa Art space of the Arts Council Korea, 2009-2010 Fellowship (Gallery space, Project, Exhibition Support)

- Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Visual Artist 2009 Fellowship (Project, Exhibition Support)

- 9th Songeun Visual Arts Award, 2009

2008

- Can Serrat International Art Center Artist Residency Fellowship. (Project, Accommodation support)

- The finalist grant for the 2008 Metro neighborhood Poster Project/Koreatown.(Project support)

- Arts Council Korea Visual Artist 2008 Fellowship (Project Support)

- Otis college of Art & Design, Los Angeles / Sandberg Institute Amsterdam Residency Exchange Fellowship. (Travel, Project, Accommodation support)

2006

- University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Art / The Benna Foundation for Excellence in the Fine Arts / The Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery / The Nevada Museum of Art / The Fleischmann Planetarium and Science Center (Travel, Project support)

CURATORIAL EXHIBITION

2009

-"Flying White Cube" Vol 2, Flying White Cube Gallery, Los Angeles, California, May, '09

-"G3 Inauguration Exhibition", Project Room G3, San Pedro, California, April, '09

2008

- "The First Annual Otis Sandberg Institute Exchange Program Exhibition" in conjunction with De Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, May, 2008

- "Flying White Cube" in conjunction with De Kunstvlaai, Amsterdam, May, 2008

2006

- "4 persons video screening and performance show", Seoul, June, 2006

PRESS AND REVIEWS

- "Art upon art at Project Room G3", by Vy Pham, District Weekly, April 15th, 2009

- "Angels Gate exhibit greets creativity of new artists" by Shirle Gottlieb, Press-Telegram, Long Beach, CA July 31st, 2008

- "HanKyung", Korea, December 22nd, 2008

- "JoongAng Daily", San Francisco, September, 2007

- "Angels Gate Interview" Up at the Gate, August, 2007

- “Misul Saekye” Magazine. (Korea) April, 2004