A Deep Sea Sculpted in Clay: Daniel Kyung’s Solo Exhibition at the Lighting Museum

[Financial News] Dolls and faux gems have been added to sea creatures sculpted from clay. An exhibition is on view that uses familiar play materials to create unfamiliar beings and explore the human inner world.
According to the Lighting Museum on the 10th, Daniel Kyung’s solo exhibition, “DEEP; Light Revealed from the Deep,” selected through this year’s 15th FILUX Light Art Competition, is now on view.
The artist creates imaginary life forms inspired by eels, seahorses, sunfish and starfish. In the artist’s work, the lightless deep sea is a symbolic space that reflects the real world and the human inner self. Visitors encounter these works as if swimming through the depths of the ocean.
The 2015 work “The GOD of EEL I~IV” was made with polymer clay and toys. “Sun Fish Meets the Black Sea” (2018) was made with polymer clay, epoxy and Styrofoam.
These creatures contain the artist’s personal memories and emotions. Behind their colorful, playful appearance lie questions about life and death, faith and doubt, desire and love.
In a 2019 text introducing the residency at Deiglan Gallery in Iceland, the artist also explained that these themes were explored like a fairy tale through polymer clay, toys and balloons.
One way into the works is through the relationship between the creatures’ forms and their decorations. Looking at where the dolls and gems are placed offers a way to read how everyday objects become unfamiliar beings.
The exhibition, which opened on the 9th, runs through February 28 next year in Exhibition Rooms 1 and 2 at the Lighting Museum in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with admission closing at 4 p.m.
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