Korean-American Artists Exhibit Works at AACC

View artworks by Korean-American artists of the Mid-Atlantic region Nov. 7-Dec. 12 at the exhibit "Projection and Inference" at the Anne Arundel Community College Cade Center for Fine Arts Gallery.

The curated exhibit features video projection, photographs and collages by Soomin Ham of Alexandria, Va.; acrylic paintings by Sumita Kim of Potomac, Md.; oil paintings by Taek Lee of Fairfax, Va.; and ink-on-paper works by In-soon Shin of Washington, D.C.

Come to the gallery for a free talk about the exhibit by curator Chris Mona, AACC associate professor of art, at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 10. Meet the artists from 6-8 p.m. that same day at the gallery during a free artists’ reception featuring Korean and American fare. The gallery is on the Arnold campus, 101 College Parkway.

Mona selected works that visually push forth but carry subtle or layered meanings.

Ham tears up her own photographs to make the collaged images in her "Lightscape" series. The paper images literally bulge out at the center, yet the mosaic of torn black and white photographs generate a subtle inward glow, suggesting an afterthought of light at dusk, or a halo of light.

Sumita Kim’s large-scale acrylic paintings are emotionally hot, some to the point of scathing in their red bias and extreme foreshortening. In "Shramana," rust red, pink and sky-blue biomorphic shapes flex against a wide green swath. Their postures are both offensive and defensive.

Taek Lee alternates concentric ovals of white and blue-gray over the surface of the painting "Ovary and Child." Lee invites the eye to pull inward, as the smallest oval is about the size of a child’s head.

"We are pulled into the fogged interior with a flaming yellow u-shaped line, which cradles the ovoids, then abruptly swings off the panel," Mona said.

In-soon Shin’s "Wave" series of ink-on-paper pieces are first about brushstrokes, yet they infer landscape. "Steeped into the paper surface, these horizontal strokes pick up every pulse of the artist’s hand," Mona said.

Gallery hours are 9 a.m.- 4 p.m. weekdays and 6-9 p.m. Wednesdays. For information call 410-777-7028. Call disability support services, 410-777-2307 or Maryland Relay 711, at least 72 hours in advance to request special accommodations.