What to make of large scrap-like pieces of metal strategically placed on the floor? Or a tabletop with a chunk cut out of the corner? These questions come to mind as one searches for appropriate tools to assess Chung Seoyoung’s sculpture and multi – media work. Appropriately enough, such works emphasize the arbitrary and rootless nature of things. Chung also uses elements of the absurd to invest material objects with a sense of ambiguity. Sculptures like Curb (2013) and Corner Stone (2011)–both featured in “Ability vs. Invisibility,” Chung’s first solo show in New York, at the Tina Kim Gallery–attempt to recalibrate our idea of aesthetics and of what sculpture can be. The cast aluminum Curb reproduces an ordinary slice of daily experience, singling out for attention a prosaic piece of functionality that would normally go unnoticed (except in moments of failure), while Corner Stone, a rough, shapeless blob of cement, playfully fills the gap left by right-angled, architectural order.…see the entire article in the print version of January/February’s Sculpture magazine.
