On Friday, the exhibition “In Between Presence and Absence: The Illusionary Reality” opens at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts, a nonprofit visual arts center dedicated to preserving book art. The exhibition features the work of New York-based book artist Sun Young Kang.
It focuses on the coexistence of opposing ideas—presence and absence, death and life, physical and non-physical—and how they each imply the other, according to the Minnesota Center for Book Arts’ website.
Kang says it “was generally inspired by my own experience of residing in the liminal space as an immigrant who is trying to bridge two different cultures.”
The installation consists of things Kang encountered on a daily basis, such as jars, glasses, bottles, and cans, encased in paper molds from discarded paper using a technique called paper casting. These items rest on the gallery floor accompanied by a reflective backdrop that mirrors the objects and the audience, creating “another dimension to the space.”
“[The viewer] allows the gallery space to become the space in-between,” Kang says.
“In Between Presence and Absence: The Illusionary Reality” will be on display at the Outlook Gallery, a window gallery space at the front of the Open Book building on Washington Avenue. Passersby can view it from the street as well as inside the Center’s shop. It is free to the public and on display until October 2, 2022.