The subject is absent in the works of Hyung Koo Kang, a renowned hyperrealist artist. Rather than merely depicting famous celebrities in the picture, he combines it with contemporary images like film, and reinvents the subject with exquisite craftsmanship using all kinds of possible tools with his painting, such as airbrush technique, nails, drill, q-tips, toothpicks and erasers. In order to actualize a subject that doesn’t exist, Kang expresses the potential and possible realities in a hyperrealistic manner, rather than merely unveiling reality as it is. The figures of the past that are recreated through his hands into contemporary images pierce the viewer with a tactile gaze, exchanging that gaze with the audience, forming emotional bonds secretly.
1980 B.F.A. Chungang University, Seoul