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Hong Seon Jang | Minor Landscaping

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Sculpted Voices | Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo

Sculpted Voices | Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo
September 10-December 5, 2025 | Opening Exhibition: Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 5-7 PM |
Image courtesy of the Artist |

With his installations, Hong Seon Jang transforms industrial products and found objects in order to explore the usually recognizable surroundings. As their conventional function and values are reinterpreted, distorted, and subverted, Jang investigates opposing concepts and contrasting ideas, such as authority and subordination, internal and external dynamics, and the interplay between security and threat. Through his art, Jang invites viewers to re-examine how symbols acquire cultural and ideological significance, and how their meanings transform in displacement.

 

Opening Reception

Wednesday, September 10, 2025 | 5-7 PM

 

The Korea Society Gallery is open only by appointment. The appointment must be made at least 24 hours prior to the scheduled visit. To make an appointment, please contact info@koreasociety.org.

Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday 10 AM-4:30 PM
By Appointment Only

Click here to make an appointment

 

The Korea Society 
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor, NYC

 

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ABOUT THE ARTIST:

Hong Seon Jang has widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions including Wellin Museum of Art, NY; SHCM Museum of Art, NY; Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Meet Factory, Czech Republic; Fine Arts Gallery, San Francisco State University, CA; Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning, NY; the Cohen Gallery at Brown University, RI; Smack Mellon, NY; McColl Center for Visual Art, NC; The Soap Factory, MN; The Islip Art Museum, NY; Artspace, CT; Rush Arts Gallery, NYC, and Hangaram Art Museum, South Korea. His awards and residencies include:  ISCP Ground Floor Program, AHL-AAW Solo Exhibition Grant, The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, NY; Art Council Korea Grant, Korea; MSA, LA; Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, ME; Tokyo Wonder Site, Artist-In-Residence, Japan; Percent for Art, Public School Art commission, NY; Djerassi, CA; Atlantic Center for the Arts, FL; Newark Museum, NJ; Lower East Side Printshop Special Editions Residency, NY; Emerging Artist Fellowship, Socrates Sculpture Park, NY; Sculpture Space, NY; Bemis Art, NE; Abron Arts Center, NY; The Triangle Artists’ Workshop Program, NY; and Urban Artist Initiative Fellowship. He received his BFA from Dankook University, South Korea and earned his MFA in Imaging Art at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. 

Ed Park: An Oral History of Atlantis with Mira Jacob

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Ed Park: An Oral History of Atlantis with Mira Jacob

 

A deadpan, wildly imaginative collection of stories that slices clean through the mundanity and absurdity of modern life, An Oral History of Atlantis is the newest collection of short stories from Ed Park, the author of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize–winner and Pulitzer Prize finalist Same Bed Different Dreams.

In this utterly original collection, characters question the fleetingness of youth and art, reckon with the consequences of the everyday, and find solace in the absurd, the beautiful, and the sublime. Throughout, Ed Park deploys his trademark wit to create a world both strikingly recognizable and delightfully other. All together, these fifteen stories have much to say about the meaning—and transitory nature—of our lives. And they are proof positive that Ed Park is one of the most insightful and imaginative writers working today.

In this conversation with Mira Jacob, presented in collaboration with Yu & Me Books, Ed Park discusses his latest book.

 

Ed Park: An Oral History of Atlantis with Mira Jacob

Thursday, September 4, 2025 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

Ed Park is the author of the novels Personal Days and Same Bed Different Dreams. He is a founding editor of The Believer, and has worked in newspapers, book publishing, and academia. His writing appears in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s Magazine, The Atlantic, and elsewhere. Born in Buffalo, he lives in Manhattan with his family. 

 

About the Moderator:

 
 

Mira Jacob is a novelist, memoirist, illustrator, and cultural critic. Her graphic memoir Good Talk: A Memoir in Conversations was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Award, longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award, and named a New York Times Notable Book. Her novel The Sleepwalker’s Guide to Dancing was a Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers pick and named one of the best books of the year by Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe and Goodreads. She is a professor at The New School and a founding faculty member of the MFA in Writing at Randolph College.

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Author Talks: Cheon Seon-Ran

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Author Talks: Cheon Seon-Ran

SICA

A bestseller in Korea, The Midnight Shift by Cheon Seon-Ran is a biting, fast-paced vampire murder mystery exploring queer love and the consequences of loneliness.

When four isolated elderly people die back-to-back at the same hospital by jumping out of the sixth-floor window, Su-Yeon doesn’t understand why she’s the only one at her precinct that seems to care. But her colleagues at the police force dismiss the case as a series of unfortunate suicides due to the patients’ loneliness. But Su-Yeon doesn’t have the privilege of looking away: her dearest friend, Grandma Eun-Shim, lives on the sixth floor, and Su-Yeon is terrified that something will happen to her next.

As Su-Yeon begins her investigation alone, she runs into a mysterious woman named Violette at the crime scene. Violette claims to be a vampire hunter, searching for her ex-lover, Lily, and is insistent that a vampire is behind the mysterious deaths. Su-Yeon is skeptical at first, but when a fifth victim jumps from the window, her investigation reveals the body was completely drained of blood. Desperate to discover the cause of the deaths, Su-Yeon considers Violette’s explanation-that something supernatural is involved.

A gripping mystery, The Midnight Shift overflows with commentary about societal isolation and loneliness, the sharp knife of grief, and the effects of marginalization.

In this episode of Author Talks, Cheon Seon-Ran discusses her career in Korea and the English translation of her novel.

 

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Author Talks: Cheon Seon-Ran

Tuesday, August 12, 2025 


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

A lover of sci-fi always dreaming of the universe and waiting for aliens, Cheon Seon-Ran made her debut with Broken Bridges in 2019. She was awarded the Grand Prize in the 4th Korea Sci-Fi Literature Awards for her novel A Thousand Blues. 

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Julia Riew & Brad Riew @ The Strand

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Author Photos Ramona Park & Marcos Ramirez

Join us for an in-person event at The Strand with debut authors Julia Riew and Brad Riew for the release of their new novel The Last Tiger.

Inspired by true stories from the authors’ grandparents’ lives during one of the darkest periods in Korean history, The Last Tiger is a young adult fantasy novel about the power of love to give voice to a broken people.

In a colonized land where tigers are being hunted to extinction and ancient magic stirs, two star-crossed teens—Lee Seung, a servant yearning for freedom, and Choi Eunji, a noble girl defying tradition—join forces to try and reshape their respective fates.

But their relationship evolves from begrudging accomplices to bitter adversaries as they soon find themselves on opposite sides of a battle over the last tiger, a symbol of their people’s lost freedom and key to the liberation of their country. As the ties between Seung and Eunji are complicated by their conflicting loyalties, tensions rise—especially when a charming princeling of the empire begins to rival for Eunji’s affection.

In this friends-to-enemies-to-lovers story of forbidden romance, antagonists turned allies, oppression and liberation, neither Seung nor Eunji can abandon their mission—or each other. And as they embark on separate quests to find the elusive creature, each must also find the power within themselves to make their own destiny.

Joining Julia and Brad in conversation is critically acclaimed, bestselling author Chloe Gong.

 

Click Here to Purchase Your Ticket

 

Julia Riew & Brad Riew @ The Strand

Tuesday, July 29, 2025 | 7 PM


 Strand Book Store – 3rd Floor, Rare Book Room
828 Broadway
New York, NY 10003

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Julia Riew is a composer-lyricist, playwright, and novelist best known for her viral hit DIVE, a reimagining of the Korean folktale “Shimcheong,” which is currently being developed for the stage at the American Repertory Theater. In addition to winning the 2022 Fred Ebb Award for Musical Theater Songwriting, Julia has been Playbill’s Featured Songwriter of the Month, a Woman to Watch on Broadway, and a Princess Grace Honoraria recipient. Julia was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated magna cum laude from Harvard in 2022 with a BA in theater and music.
 
 

Brad Riew is an MFA candidate in Fiction at New York University’s creative writing program. He graduated from Harvard College in 2018 with a degree in Psychology, where he won the Ecker Short Story Prize. The Last Tiger , co-written with his younger sister Julia Riew, is his first novel. Brad lives in Brooklyn, New York.

 

About the Moderator:
 
Photo Credit: One Grid Studio

Chloe Gong is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the critically acclaimed Secret Shanghai novels, as well as the Flesh and False Gods trilogy. Her books have been published in over twenty countries and have been featured in The New York Times, PEOPLE, Cosmopolitan, and more. She was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for 2024. Chloe graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in English and International Relations. Born in Shanghai and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, she is now located in New York City, pretending to be a real adult. Visit her online at thechloegong.com and on Instagram, X, and TikTok at @thechloegong.

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Author Talks: Kyung-Ran Jo

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Author Photo © Park Jae-hong

“A memorable existential tale.” —Publishers Weekly

An atmospheric, melancholic novel about a successful sculptor who decides to commit suicide by artfully preparing and deliberately eating a lethal dish of blowfish, Kyung-Ran Jo‘s Blowfish is a postmodern novel in four parts, alternating between the respective stories of a female sculptor and a male architect. The narrative loosely approximates a love story, but this is no romance in the normal sense. For the woman, the man is a pitstop on the road to her own suicide. For the man, the woman forestalls death and offers him a final chance. Through the conflicting impressions they have of one another, the characters look back on their lives; it is only the desire to create art that calls them back from death.

Evoking the heterogeneous urban spaces of Seoul and Tokyo, Blowfish delves into the inner life of a woman contemplating her failures in love and art. Jo’s fierce will to write animates the novel; the lethal taste of blowfish, which one cannot help but eat even though one may die in doing so, approximates the inexorable pains of writing a novel.

In this episode of Author Talks, Jo discusses her career in Korea and the English translation of her novel.

 

Sign Up Here to Receive the Viewing Link

 

Author Talks: Kyung-Ran Jo

Tuesday, July 15, 2025


The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

Kyung-Ran Jo made her literary debut in 1996 when her short story “The French Optical” won the Dong-a Ilbo New Writer’s Contest. She is the author of five story collections and three novels. Her novel Tongue was published in English by Bloomsbury in 2009. She is also the recipient of the Hyundae Munhak Award and the Dongin Prize, among others.

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Artist Talk: Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo

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Courtesy of Artist | 

Through figurative sculpture, two Korean-born artists transcend language and cultural barriers to tell their personal stories and express emotions that resonate universally. By sharing their unique perspectives and introspection, they offer alternative interpretations and an opportunity for a more comprehensive understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Kyungmin Park‘s artistic vision was inspired by her experience as an immigrant in the U.S., where she had to learn a new language and customs. This process of adaptation reminded her of the experience of being a child, which led her to explore a childlike state, characterized by freedom, creativity, and the ability to embrace new experiences without restraint. Park’s ceramic sculptures often feature childlike figures with expressive faces that convey a range of human emotions and experiences. Amorphous forms symbolize the boundless imagination of childhood, while the lines and colors represent the societal expectations and constraints of adulthood.

Jinsik Yoo works with clay to create abstract representations of bodily forms, sculptures that embody the layered nature of existence. Through his artistic practices, Yoo expands, alters, intensifies, and ambiguates features so that his sculptures resonate beyond the physical and depict social, emotional, and psychological complexity. Ambiguity in his sculptures  challenges viewers to engage with the art on a deeper level, prompting them to ask questions about themselves and their own inner worlds. Yoo’s artistic inquiry centers less on offering definitive conclusions and more on exploratory thinking and questioning. 

 

 

Artist Talk: Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo

Tuesday, June 10, 2025


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Join our membership program here!

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From POW Camp to Muralist: The Untold Story of Lee Qoede

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Join Korean art historian and curator Jinyoung Jin as she reveals the fascinating life and art of Lee Qoede (1913–1965), a groundbreaking twentieth-century Korean painter shaped by the turbulent ideological battles of postliberation Korea. From surviving three years in a prisoner-of-war camp during the Korean War to defecting to North Korea in 1953, Lee’s journey and artistry reflect a profound resilience. Jin will delve into his impactful contributions to twentieth-century social realism, uncovering the surprising and powerful influence of Mexican muralism on his work.

 

Sign Up Here to Attend In-Person

 

From POW Camp to Muralist: The Untold Story of Lee Qoede

Thursday, June  5, 2025 | 6:30 PM


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Join our membership program here!

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About the Speaker:

 

Jinyoung Anna Jin, Ph.D., is the Director of Asian Art and Culture at the Charles B. Wang Center at Stony Brook University. Jin has organized critically acclaimed exhibitions including Korea: A Land of Hats (2019), The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens (2016), Comfort Women Wanted (2014), and Seas of Blue: Asian Indigo Dye (2014). Many of her curated exhibitions have been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and PBS. Jin’s recent publication includes Art, War, and Exile in Modern Korea: Rethinking the Life and Work of Lee Qoede, Park Dae Sung: Ink Reimagined, and Chaekgeori: The Power and Pleasure of Possessions in Korean Painted Screens. Jin serves as a member of the community advisory board of PBS Thirteen/WLIW.

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Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art with Andy St. Louis

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Join Andy St. Louis for an in-depth exploration of South Korea’s burgeoning art scene and the most intriguing artists who are at the forefront of a generational shift in Korean art. Working in the fields of painting, sculpture, installation, video and photography, these artists collectively foreground the facets of contemporary Korean culture that have enabled the country’s cultural exports to resonate so strongly worldwide. In his lecture, St. Louis will showcase the diversity of contemporary Korean art practices while situating them amid the global contemporary art conversation.

 

 

Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art with Andy St. Louis

Tuesday, June 3, 2025 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speaker:

 

Andy St. Louis is a Seoul-based writer, curator and consultant with more than a decade of experience in the field of contemporary Korean art, and editor of Future Present: Contemporary Korean Art. In 2018, he founded Seoul Art Friend, an online platform dedicated to promoting Korean art and documenting Seoul’s art scene. He is currently the Seoul desk editor for ArtAsiaPacific and has contributed to international publications including Artforum, Artnet News, The Art Newspaper, ArtReview and frieze.

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Writing YA Novels with Claire Ahn and Kat Cho

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Young adult literature is rapidly becoming one of the most popular genres in publishing today. Also increasingly visible are YA novels featuring Asian American and Pacific Islander characters at the forefront, providing insight into the expectations and identity issues many members of the AAPI community experience and offering a unique perspective on these universal themes.

Catherine Hong will moderate a discussion between YA authors Claire Ahn and Kat Cho about their latest books, the growing popularity of YA novels with Korean and Korean-American characters, and the shifting views surrounding Asian-American YA novels among both readers and the publishing industry.

 

To purchase signed books, please visit Books of Wonder.
 

Writing YA Novels with Claire Ahn and Kat Cho

Wednesday, May 28, 2025 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

Join our membership program here!

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About the Speakers:

 

Claire Ahn is the author of I Guess I Live Here Now and Bad Influence. She grew up in Seoul, Korea, and still considers it home. She moved to New York to attend university and now lives in Long Island City with her husband, daughter, and their dog, Dante. She writes about transcultural experiences and the traditions, values, and legacies that shape who we are.
 
 

Kat Cho is a New York Times and international bestselling author of Young Adult fiction. She received her BA in Biology from Wesleyan University and MPH in Community Education from CUNY Hunter in her past life as a clinical researcher. She advocates for equity and representation in publishing and media through her work with non-profits such as Diverse Voices Inc. ​Kat and her books have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, NBC.com, Refinery 29, and Seventeen. Her books include the Penguin One World One Book 2019 Selection, Wicked Fox, its international bestselling sequel, Vicious Spirits, and the NYT Bestselling Once Upon a K-Prom. Her latest book is Wish Upon a K-Star.

 

About the Moderator:

 

Catherine Hong is a journalist and children’s book critic who contributes to The New York Times, Architectural Digest and Oprah Daily, among other publications. Previously, she was an editor at W magazine and co-host of K-Pod, a podcast about Korean Americans in arts and culture produced by KoreanAmericanStory.org.

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Women in Food Media

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There are many Korean American voices within food media nowadays, and many more women on editorial mastheads. But, what is it like to navigate this system of reporting and contributing to food culture as a Korean-American woman? |

Eater NY | Myo Quinn Instagram | Bon Appétit Mag/Photo By Alex Lau, Food Styling By Susie Theodorou, Prop Styling By Ayesha Patel | Christina Chaey IG @seechaey | Kitchn | Myo Quinn Website | Bon Appetit Mag YouTube

There are many Korean American voices within food media nowadays, and many more women on editorial mastheads. But, what is it like to navigate this system of reporting and contributing to food culture as a Korean-American woman? What are the challenges, and what difference do they make in the industry?

Chef and writer Caroline Choe sits down with three women with longstanding careers in the food editorial and media landscape–Christina Chaey, Myo Quinn, and Caroline Shin–to discuss the importance of diverse voices in food media, sharing their own experiences in their work, and what they hope will be the best way forward to allow for more voices and stories to be heard.

 

Women in Food Media

Thursday, May 15, 2025 | 6:30 PM (EDT)


 The Korea Society
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Floor
New York, NY 10017

 

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About the Speakers:

 

Christina Chaey is a writer and recipe developer living in Brooklyn. She is the creator of Gentle Foods, a popular Substack newsletter about the intersection of cooking and mental health. She is a former senior food editor at Bon Appétit and is publishing her first cookbook in spring 2026.
 
 

Myo Quinn is a writer, recipe developer, on-camera host, and culinary instructor. After spending 10+ years working at a New York City-based hedge fund, she switched careers to train at the Michelin-starred Gramercy Tavern and Untitled at the Whitney Museum. Her work can be found on King Arthur Baking Company, Food Network, Delish, Food52, and Good Housekeeping, and until recently she was Associate Editorial Director at Simply Recipes. She was born in Asuncion, Paraguay, to Korean immigrants and currently lives in Virginia with her husband and three sons.
 
 

Caroline Shin is a food journalist from a working-class, food-centered Korean immigrant family in Flushing, Queens. From mom-and-pops to Michelin stars and grandmas’ home cooking, she has extensively covered the Korean American food scene in NYC. Follow her on Instagram and Bluesky @CookingWGranny.

 

About the Moderator:

 

Caroline Choe is a chef, artist, teacher and writer based in New York City, and is a proud daughter of Korean American immigrants. After a long career in education, she continued her journey into a culinary and creative career. She recently published her debut cookbook, Banchan: 60 Korean American Recipes for Delicious, Shareable Sides, which was named as one of the 26 Best Cookbooks for 2024 by Serious Eats. She is also the founder of Create & Plate, a business devoted to helping create community through arts and food education. Both she and her work have been featured in Food & Wine, NPR, Food52, Glamour, NY1, NBC’s Today Show, and Good Morning America.

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