Ken Gun Min b. 1976
Ken Gun Min’s paintings explore intimacy, masculinity, and representation across cultures, while employing a mixture of western-style oil paints, Korean pigments, embroidery, and beading on raw canvas. Often featuring nude and queer-coded men, his portraits and lush landscapes concoct fanciful idylls where longing, melancholy, and euphoria manifest irrespective of expectations imposed on people in daily life.
Born in Seoul, Min lived in San Francisco, Zurich, and Berlin before settling in Los Angeles. With this experience of Eurocentric capitals, his practice calls first-world-oriented perspectives into question. For the past several years, Min has focused on the creation of cross-cultural figures and spaces by integrating eastern and western painting styles on a single plane. This practice investigates the way figures and landscapes can be colored by the material and stylistic choices made in their rendering. In both his technical application and the scenes he composes, Min challenges conceptions of sexuality, gender, and race, especially as it is depicted in Western art history.
Ken Gun Min (b. 1976, lives and works in Los Angeles, CA) studied western painting and art history and theory at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea and received his MFA from the Academy of Art, University of San Francisco. Solo exhibitions include Silverlake Dog Park, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles; Wounded Man, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, K contemporary, Denver, CO; and Becoming Palm Tree, Gae Po Project Space, Seoul, Korea. Group exhibitions that featured Min’s work include Sparkle in, Fade out, Torrance Art Museum, Torrance, CA; Bozomag: Bozo Family Hoedown, M+B gallery, Los Angeles, CA; and 36 Paintings, Harper’s, East Hampton, NY. He was a Hopper Prize finalist and received awards from Direktorenhaus, Berlin, DE and the Kellogg Foundation, New York, NY. Min’s work has been featured in Artnet, ArtMaze Magazine, Artsy Editorial, and Hyperallergic. The artist has a forthcoming presentation at the Denver Art Museum.
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Ken Gun MinSomeday when spring is here, we'll find our love anew (ass up), 2022Korean powder, found fabric, embroidery on raw canvas63 1/2 x 54 in
161.3 x 137.2 cm -
Ken Gun MinAmbiguous Yoga Club in Runyon Canyon, 2022oil paint, Korean powder, found fabric, embroidery on raw canvas80 x 59 in
203.2 x 149.9 cm -
Ken Gun MinKoreatown Man, 2022oil on canvas32 1/2 x 24 1/2 in
82.5 x 62.2 cm -
Ken Gun MinMelancholy and Infinite Sadness, 2022oil, Korean pigment powder, found object, embroidery48 x 39 in
121.9 x 99.1 cm -
Ken Gun MinMongolian Wrestler, 2022oil on canvas30 1/4 x 22 1/2 in
77 x 57.1 cm -
Ken Gun MinTwo Oysters, 2022oil on linen41 x 47 in
104.1 x 119.4 cm -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake, 2022gold thread, Korean pigment powder, oil, vintage crystal beads on linen50 x 41 1/2 in
127 x 105.4 cm -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake Dog Park (Triptych), 2022oil paint, Korean powder, found fabric, embroidery on raw canvasOverall: 80 x 153 in / 203.2 x 388.6 cm
From left: 80 x 50 in, 80 x 53 in, 80 x 50 in -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake, 2022Korean pigment powder, oil on raw canvas50 x 40 in
127 x 101.6 cm -
Ken Gun MinBuena Vista Park 1am, 2022oil on canvas30 x 24 in
76.2 x 61 cm -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake Dog Park (Behind Second Bush at 3pm) , 2022Korean pigment and oil on raw canvas32 1/2 x 33 in
82.5 x 83.8 cm -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake Dog Park, 2022Korean pigment powder, oil on raw canvas48 x 36 in
121.9 x 91.4 cm -
Ken Gun MinHollywood Man, 2021Korean pigment and thread and beads on raw canvas40 x 33 1/2 in
101.6 x 85.1 cm -
Ken Gun MinWest Hollywood Boy, 2022oil, embroidery on canvas29 x 27 1/2 in
73.7 x 69.8 cm -
Ken Gun MinSilverlake Man, 2021Korean pigment and oil on raw canvas34 x 29 in
86.4 x 73.7 cm
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Installation view, Ken Gun Min: Silverlake Dog Park, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, May 21–June 25, 2022.
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Installation view, Ken Gun Min: Silverlake Dog Park, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, May 21–June 25, 2022.
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Installation view, Ken Gun Min: Silverlake Dog Park, Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, May 21–June 25, 2022.
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10 Years
9 Jul - 27 Aug 2022Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles is pleased to present 10 YEARS, a special group exhibition celebrating this milestone anniversary for the gallery. To mark the anniversary, founder Shula Nazarian and co-owner Seth Curcio have selected works by more than twenty artists from the gallery’s program. The exhibition will be on view...Read more -
Ken Gun Min
Silverlake Dog Park 21 May - 25 Jun 2022Opening Saturday, May 21, 5–8pm Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles is pleased to present Silverlake Dog Park, a solo exhibition by Korean-born, Los Angeles-based artist Ken Gun Min. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition at the gallery. Silverlake Dog Park draws equally from real and imagined locations in Los Angeles....Read more
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Hyperallergic: Your Concise Los Angeles Art Guide for June 2022 featuring Ken Gun Min
Caroline Ellen Liou, Hyperallergic, May 31, 2022 -
Artnet News: Ken Gun Min's Fantastical Artworks Bring Together a Whirlwind of Imager
Artnet News, March 8, 2022 -
Art Maze Mag: A Meeting of Two Worlds: Ken Gun Min
Layla Leiman, Art Maze Magazine, August 14, 2019