Boundless Painting

Haena Kang (born in Tokyo, Japan) is a Korean-American painter living and working in Brooklyn, NY. She has exhibited in solo shows in Brooklyn and group shows in Soho, Dumbo and Taipei. She is the recipient of four 2015 ArtSlant Prize Showcase Winner awards. Colors, patterns, and texture, have always peaked Haena’s interest. Her maker’s instinct guided her to attend Cooper Union, where she majored in painting and drawing. After college, she spent her creative energies delving into the design world. Little did she realize that her design background would heavily influence her future art. In Spring 2010, Haena came full-circle and began painting again. As Haena has evolved, so has her creative processes. Illustrative paintings morphed into undulating shapes, defining Haena’s current painting style. Intertwining her various skill sets enables her love for colors, and layering them, to manifest in all her work. The unifying thread underlying Haena’s work is clarity— the consistent thought around the concept and the process of achieving it. She’s come to realize that this desire for understanding is not just her own, but rather one that is universal in human emotion. Her curiosities revolve around our instinctual emotions; how one has experienced triumph over adversity and has wandered the wilderness and come out on the other side. Through her work, Haena portrays this intangible, intimate moment of clarity and the potential that accompanies it.