Minseok Kang

Throughout my life I have expressed myself through art. From a young age I have been drawn to time and speed, and as an adult I have come to work through the subject of the automobile. Over time my focus shifted from the outer allure of cars to their inner force, developing into a distinctive contemporary style between abstraction and representation.

In my current abstract car paintings I depict distorted vehicles as metaphors for the modern self — its pursuit of happiness and the self-determined paths carved out amid relentless competition. I build these images with acrylic paint pushed and scraped across the canvas with a squeegee, each mark a trace of time and speed. In earlier work I layered embroidered thread over the surface; I have since stripped it away, leaving only the raw squeegee marks — because the more I remove, the more honest the painting becomes.

The car is never just a car. It is a portrait of the contemporary human: a question about who we are when speed, competition and time have worn us down, and what still remains of the self underneath.

2010 MFA in Painting, Dong-A University, Busan, South Korea
2007 BFA in Painting, Dong-A University, Busan, South Korea

2025 "RED LINE: Beyond Time and Space", Gallery Yupi, Busan, South Korea
2025 "A DREAM CAR: Racing Dreams", Corner Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2024 "Joy Ice Cream", Starfield Myeongji, Busan, South Korea
2023 "The Big Bang: Identity No.2", BNK Busan Bank Gallery, Busan, South Korea
2023 "The Big Bang: Identity", Polestar Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
2022 "Endless Force: Evolution", 523 Gallery, Busan, South Korea
2021 "Endless Force", DOT Museum of Art, Busan, South Korea
2019 "Invisible Force No.2", Gallery Art Soop, Busan, South Korea
2017 "Invisible Force", Alliance Française Art Space, Busan, South Korea
2016 "A Source of Strength Vol.2", Ulju Culture & Arts Center, Ulsan, South Korea
2015 "Long Journey", Gallery Yedong, Busan, South Korea
2014 "A Source of Strength", Alliance Française Art Space, Busan, South Korea
2012 "The Direction of the Wind", Gallery Woo, Busan, South Korea
2011 "It's Time to Begin", Seoul Auction Busan, Busan, South Korea
2011 "Competition", Gallery Mac, Busan, South Korea
2025 "Epilogos" (6-person), Pop-Up Epilogue, Seoul, South Korea
2025 "CAUTION" (7-person), Continuence Auction, Seoul, South Korea
2024 "Reflected from Summer's End" (11-per...