ASIA WEEK NEW YORK EXHIBITION
Genealogies of Time: Korean Modern and Contemporary Art
March 6 – 31, 2026
Opening Reception: Friday, March 20, 5-9pm
On Asia Week New York 2026, we are pleased to present Genealogies of Time: Korean Modern and Contemporary Art, an exhibition that examines the present condition of South Korean contemporary art through the coexistence of multiple temporal layers. Rather than following a chronological narrative, the exhibition brings together works from different generations to reveal how artistic questions persist, shift, and reemerge over time.
The exhibition foregrounds the practices of Jeoung Keun Chan (b. 1965, South Korea), Hyeongsoo Kim (b. 1961, South Korea), and Hak Il Kim (b. 1965, South Korea). Working across distinct formal and conceptual approaches, these artists articulate current positions within South Korean contemporary art, engaging with enduring concerns related to form, materiality, perception, and structure. Their works reflect how inherited artistic sensibilities are tested and reconfigured under present-day conditions.
Alongside these contemporary practices, works by Kim Guiline (1936–2021, South Korea) are presented to expand the exhibition’s temporal scope. Shown in proximity to contemporary works, his paintings allow different moments in South Korean art history to be viewed together, emphasizing continuity and transformation rather than linear progression.
Genealogies of Time presents South Korean modern and contemporary art as an evolving field shaped by accumulated experience, reinterpretation, and ongoing inquiry. Through the juxtaposition of works across generations, the exhibition offers a focused view of how contemporary practice appears from layered historical conditions while remaining firmly grounded in the present.
To learn more, click here.
PAST EXHIBITION
Threads of Origin
September 18 – October 15, 2025
Opening Reception: September 26, 6-8 pm
The solo exhibition of Hijo Nam refuses to be confined to a single medium or form. In this presentation, fabric works, mother-of-pearl moon jars, and painterly canvases intersect and converse, creating a polyphonic space that explores the origins of human existence, the spiritual realm, and the sustaining force of maternal love. Nam’s art weaves Korean tradition, contemporary experimentation, material tactility, philosophical thought, ritual memory, and personal myth.
Fabric has long been central to Nam’s practice. The repeated acts of tearing, stitching, layering, and mending are not mere techniques but metaphors for life itself. Wounds and healing, death and rebirth, separation and reunion are inscribed into cloth as both visual and tactile experiences. Fabric enfolds the viewer like a swaddling cloth, recalling the ritual textiles of shamans, mediating between visible and invisible worlds. In its trembling folds and shifting light, fabric becomes a threshold where time, memory, and spiritual currents converge. Yet this exhibition extends beyond fabric. Including mother-of-pearl moon jars situates Nam’s work within the lineage of Korean aesthetics while expanding it to a cosmic dimension. The moon jar, regarded as a symbol of purity and wholeness, historically embodied infinity through emptiness. Nam transforms the vessel into a radiant container of beginnings by embedding mother-of-pearl. Its iridescent surface refracts like moonlight, evoking time cycles, maternal embrace, and the fragile tension between permanence and transience. Her paintings introduce another stratum. Layers of brushstrokes, traces, erasures, and overlays do not simply stand for but record. Each canvas becomes a site of inscription where memory, ritual, and personal myth unfold. These works function as both image and object, surface, and body, extending the tactility of fabric and the solidity of porcelain into the pictorial realm. Nam’s abstraction is never reduced to formal experiment or empty imagery. Instead, it is rooted in a concrete investigation into ancient human origins and spiritual experience. She has looked to understand how humanity interpreted life and death, inscribed communal origins into cloth, vessels, and walls, and kept connections with the unseen. Thus, her abstraction is anchored: it draws upon ancient narratives and spiritual experiences to open all stories. Crucially, Nam’s inquiry has not still been abstracting or symbolic. She undertook direct field research at Lake, a place deeply tied to shamanic traditions, in pursuit of the origins of ancient shamans’ sophisticated philosophies and knowledge systems. She cross-verified historical texts published across different countries, building a solid scholarship foundation for her artistic inquiries. Beyond academic rigor, Nam has also embodied shamanic practices—performing meditative rituals that look to dissolve the boundaries of time and space. This dual commitment to research and practice lends her work a distinctly anthropological and experiential weight, situating her art at the confluence of ancient knowledge systems and contemporary artistic practice. In this light, fabric, moon jars, and paintings no longer appear as separate media but as interwoven voices. Softness, solidity, and fluidity converge to form a cosmology of origins. Origin here is not a fixed point in the past but a cyclical present, continuously reborn—a primordial ground to which we are invited to return. At the heart of Nam’s art lies the force of maternal love. For her, it is not a private symbol but a universal energy, the foundation of existence. Fabric enfolds like a mother’s embrace, the moon jar radiates cyclical protection, and the painting inscribes the scars and traces of memory. Maternal love thus becomes more than a gendered metaphor—it becomes the archetype of origin itself.
This exhibition is both a declaration and a question. Where have we come from, what binds us together, and where must we return? Nam does not leave these questions abstract; she stages them as lived experiences. Visitors walk along the textures of cloth, meet the spectral shimmer of mother-of-pearl, and inscribe their own memories upon painted surfaces. In this moment, the exhibition expands into a collective meditation on spiritual continuity and humanity’s ancient origins. At Space776, Threads of Origin resists the speed and consumption logic dominating contemporary art. It is not a regression into the past but a re-weaving of the present through countless threads of beginning. Through abstraction rooted in spiritual experience and historical investigation, Nam translates ancient knowledge into the language of art. Her work becomes where all stories open, bringing us face to face with life and death, memory and healing, maternal love, and the power of origin.
To learn more, click here.
About the Gallery
Space 776 Gallery was founded in 2015 with the aim of supporting a diverse group of artists, both local and international, spanning multiple generations and working across various media. Since its inception, the gallery has become a significant platform for showcasing emerging artistic talents and fostering connections with institutions.
The gallery first opened its doors on Central Avenue in Bushwick in 2015. In 2020, we relocated to our present address at 37-39 Clinton Street in Manhattan’s Lower East Side. Furthering our commitment to global engagement, we expanded our presence in 2024 with the opening of a new location in Seoul.
Our vision is to continually foster an environment where the narratives of established and emerging artists converge, inspiring new creative dialogues. Our history reflects this commitment. During our time in Bushwick, our long-standing open studio initiative provided crucial support to local artists, many of whom have since achieved greater recognition. Space 776 has successfully introduced and placed the work of our notable new artists in prestigious collections, including the JP Morgan ART collection and the Ukrainian National Art Museum, as well as with significant private collectors. Our support extends beyond the gallery space, as demonstrated by our involvement with the documentary film, Liz N Val. In 2019, we also participated in collaborative exhibitions, such as “Plan B” at David Zwirner. Additionally, we regularly present curated exhibitions at the gallery and have participated in over 60 international art fairs.
Looking ahead to 2025, Space 776 Gallery will continue its mission to support artists throughout their careers, introduce innovative perspectives, and further expand its international network.