Azaleas II, 52 Walker
To accompany the exhibition, the gallery is pleased to present a formative work from Kang’s recent Azaleas series that functions like the underbelly to Already. Azaleas II is titled after a 1925 poem by Korean modernist Kim Sowol (1902–1934). This kinetic sculpture comprises an enlarged rotary film dryer and a diaphanous length of 35 mm film depicting purple orchids that tautly wraps around its metal skeleton; the machine is placed atop a low, tatami-like base strewn with objects that reverberate within the artist’s orbit. The sculpture rotates according to a score that combines the syllabic meter of Sowol’s “Azaleas” alongside Kim Hyesoon’s “Already.” Situated in the dark and illuminated by a trio of programmed lights, the work becomes a meditation on time, emulating and expanding the cinematic experience. As with much of Kang’s work, Azaleas II considers presence and absence, touching everything in its midst while leaving no material trace, implicating the viewer and architecture in its enactment.
Azaleas II, 2025
Powder coated steel, aluminum, stainless steel, 35mm film, stepper motor, relays, controllers, stage lights, cables, upholstered wood base, cast aluminum lotus root, cast bronze lotus root, nylon, cast aluminum book (In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki), photograph of a mudflat, book (Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon), thread, metallic twist ties, cast aluminum anchovy, cast bronze cabbage leaf, cast aluminum lotus tubers, plastic tangerines, tissue paper, spirits.
To accompany the exhibition, the gallery is pleased to present a formative work from Kang’s recent Azaleas series that functions like the underbelly to Already. Azaleas II is titled after a 1925 poem by Korean modernist Kim Sowol (1902–1934). This kinetic sculpture comprises an enlarged rotary film dryer and a diaphanous length of 35 mm film depicting purple orchids that tautly wraps around its metal skeleton; the machine is placed atop a low, tatami-like base strewn with objects that reverberate within the artist’s orbit. The sculpture rotates according to a score that combines the syllabic meter of Sowol’s “Azaleas” alongside Kim Hyesoon’s “Already.” Situated in the dark and illuminated by a trio of programmed lights, the work becomes a meditation on time, emulating and expanding the cinematic experience. As with much of Kang’s work, Azaleas II considers presence and absence, touching everything in its midst while leaving no material trace, implicating the viewer and architecture in its enactment.
Azaleas II, 2025
Powder coated steel, aluminum, stainless steel, 35mm film, stepper motor, relays, controllers, stage lights, cables, upholstered wood base, cast aluminum lotus root, cast bronze lotus root, nylon, cast aluminum book (In Praise of Shadows by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki), photograph of a mudflat, book (Autobiography of Death by Kim Hyesoon), thread, metallic twist ties, cast aluminum anchovy, cast bronze cabbage leaf, cast aluminum lotus tubers, plastic tangerines, tissue paper, spirits.