Life and Death Unbuttoned, Reflections on Life... The Practicing Artist Hwang Ran

Artist Hwang Ran and Art Critic Richard Vine Art Talk
Special Exhibition at Sofitel Seoul 1F until the 29th

An exhibition showcasing the representative works of artist Hwang Ran, who is actively working on the global stage based in New York and Seoul, will be held.

Special Exhibition by Artist Hwang Ran - 1st Floor Welcome Lobby.
[Photo by Sofitel Ambassador Seoul]

Sofitel Ambassador Seoul in Songpa-gu, Seoul announced on the 4th that it will present three of Hwang's representative works in the first-floor welcome lobby until the 29th to celebrate its 3rd anniversary.

This exhibition features 'Secret Beauty,' which captures the light and splendor intertwined with the traditional Korean queen's wig and chandeliers from the artist's signature 'Chandelier Series'; 'Becoming Again' from the 'Plum Blossom Series,' depicting the pinnacle of beauty experienced in life; and 'The Red Wind,' representing the 'Tile Series,' which expresses human desire and illusion through reinterpreted and distorted architectural images.

Known as the 'Button Artist,' Hwang gained fame by evolving everyday materials and small objects like buttons into spectacular architectural forms. Starting her career in New York, she has exhibited at the Queens Museum and Brooklyn Museum, and has held exhibitions across Europe, the United Arab Emirates, and major Asian countries, establishing her name in the global art world.

Born in Busan, the artist went to New York for studies relatively late, in her late 30s. She enrolled at SVA in 1997, and the September 11, 2001 attacks, which she experienced while living in New York, became a major turning point in her artistic career. Themes of life and death, the visible and invisible, and life's uncertainties deeply affected her inner world. While working part-time designing embroidery patterns at a clothing company to pay tuition, she recalls discovering her artistic material at a New York flea market, where colorful buttons were sold for $1 per spool of thread and $5 per pile of buttons.

Art talk event on the 3rd featuring art critic Richard Vine and artist Hwang Ran.
[Photo by Sofitel Ambassador Seoul]

After obtaining button stock from the company where she worked part-time, she began creating works using buttons, which have since become the foundation of her artistic world. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she has presented various works reflecting voices of comfort and mourning for those who passed away not only in the U.S. but worldwide.

On the 3rd, an art talk was held featuring Hwang and Richard Vine, former editor-in-chief of the art magazine 'Art in America' and an art critic.

Hwang, who has symbolically depicted the splendid and beautiful moments of human life, won the gold prize at the contemporary art competition commemorating the founding of the AHL Foundation, a Korean-American art support organization, in 2004.

Her works are permanently collected by institutions such as the Houston Museum of Fine Arts in New York, Brooklyn Museum, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and the Abu Dhabi Royal Art Museum. Many private collectors, including tennis star Roger Federer, have acquired her works, drawing attention. In 2021, she gained recognition by holding an exhibition at Facebook New York.

She is also the artist behind 'The Secret Sublime,' exhibited in the lobby since the opening of Sofitel Seoul in 2021.