DOOSAN Gallery New York is pleased to announce Ham Jin's solo exhibition Unseen. This exhibition will comprise of approximately fifty miniature sculptures from a recent series, all created using black polymer clay.

Ham Jin's installations of miniature sculptures constructed with materials such as collected dust particles, polymer clay, and dead insects satirize the contemporary condition of individuals trapped in the world of their own making. For his recent works, he employed only black polymer clay due to the material's lightness and flexibility, which gave immediate form to Ham's ideas, while limiting the color palette allowed him to focus on the forms and structures, and the properties of the material itself.

Unseen denotes both that the works require up-close viewing to really see, as well as that the process of construction itself is not readily apparent to the viewer. In the recently finished Untitled series, abstract black sculptures appear as if they are black dots dispersed and floating inside the starkly white exhibition space. However, upon closer inspection, human faces emerge out of unidentifiable organisms, or in the urban series, New York City's buildings are standing aligned in rows, and sceneries that the artist directly saw and experienced are all part of Ham's work. As in a poem where one word or one line could be interpreted and understood in countless ways, so is the nature of Ham Jin's works.

In this exhibition, Ham Jin's intricate sculptures will provide a stimulating and pleasurable viewing experience that will occasion the opportunity to witness the artist's unique vision and wit, along with the insight into another aspect and look at Korean contemporary art.

Ham Jin (b. 1978) received a B.F.A. in Sculpture from Kyungwon University. He has had solo exhibitions at pkm Gallery (2012/2011/2004, Seoul, Korea), Miki Wick Kim Contemporary Art (2008, Zurich, Switzerland), and Aomori Contemporary Art Centre (2007, Aomori, Japan). His works also have been included at Minsheng Art Museum (2010, Shanghai, China), Espace Culturel Louis Vuitton (2008, Paris, France), Rodin Gallery (2008, Seoul, Korea), Venice Biennale (2005, Venice, Italy), Mori Art Museum (2005, Tokyo, Japan), and de Appel Arts Centre (2003, Amsterdam, Netherlands).

*image (left)
© Ham Jin 
courtesy of the artist and Doosan Gallery