Ogansaek (Hanji Edition 2024) – Artist Book
오간색 (Ogansaek) is the third volume in a collaborative artist series featuring hanji, the paper of Korea. Working with the theme of ogansaek (violet, teal, ochre, green, and burnt orange)—colors blended from the five traditional Korean colors known as obangsaek (red, white, black, blue, and yellow)—we invited five Korean American artists to this project as a way to explore contemporary themes of diasporic culture and historic symbols found in East Asian philosophy. Each artist received an ogansaek color and enough hanji to produce a series of 10″ h x 8″ w prints, which are shown below.
The five prints are bound together in a book, which measures 10”h x 8 5/8”w x 5/8”d and comes in a custom archival phase box. It premiered at at the CODEX IX International Book Fair from February 4-7, 2024. The edition size is 30, of which 23 are for sale.
Books are shipped via USPS Priority mail within the continental US. For non-US customers, please email info@hanjiedition.com for a custom shipping quote.
Ogansaek Hanji Prints
We are pleased to offer the following new hanji prints from five Korean American artists. The 10″ h x 8″ w prints are sold individually as well as in a collection in the Ogansaek artist book (2024) come in a limited edition of 15. They are shipped via USPS Priority mail within the continental US. For non-US customers, please email info@hanjiedition.com for a custom shipping quote.
Sun Young Kang
祥遇 (상우 Sang-woo), 2024
Letterpress print
Artist Statement:
祥遇 (상우 Sang-woo): “A serendipitous encounter, where fortune and destiny intertwine.”
My art focuses on the duality fundamental to human existence: of different realities or worlds both in space and time and the tension between them; and of the coexistence of antithetical ideas, how death implies life, how the material realm implies the unsubstantial or nonphysical, and how absence implies presence. In 祥遇 (상우), two traditional, mythical creatures symbolize opposing forces, like water and fire, North and South, Yin and Yang. Their imagined encounter embodies harmony, the dance of contrasts, encapsulating duality’s delicate embrace, depicted through 자색 (a color merging black and red).
HyeYoon Song
rite of passage, 2024
Photopolymer etching with chine collé and screen print
Artist Statement:
Drawing from my experiences of migration and the effects of immigration on both my identity and place in American history, this piece illustrates migration as a metaphorical gesture of grafting memories and cultural tradition onto the new land. This process is akin to embodying the identity of an exiled self in a new place, a conscious and transformative engagement in pursuit of belonging. Imagining the American landscape before my arrival as once an expansive and untouched terrain, I envision the guardian animals of the east and west governing the land, awaiting the beginning of my immigrant journey.
Julia Chon
At the Center of the Universe, 2024
Woodblock print
Artist Statement:
Looking into the face of halmeoni
A woman I’ve never met
Shelling peas on a crowded street
I find myself at the center of the universe
Where nothing and everything matters
And the sweetness of life
Is reflected onto me
Rochelle Youk
단/Dan, 2024
Woodblock print
Artist Statement:
The creation myth of the Korean Kingdom begins with a sandalwood tree—the earthly site, first inhabited by the Heavenly Prince, where Korea’s ursine mother prayed to become human, and later again to become a mother. Her son, Dangun (단군), meaning the Sandalwood King, is believed to be the historical first ruler of Korea. It is unknown whether the tree was a sandalwood or birch, but the word dan (단) can mean both, in addition to being a nickname for the first king himself. The leaves of this sacred yet unassuming tree form the pattern block, which has the ability to repeat indefinitely, much like the dan 단 trees of Korea.
Robert Choe-Henderson Youk
a/Void, 2024
Linoleum block print
Artist Statement:
Hanji is my constant for spiritual, mental, and ancestral extension. Connecting physicality to internalized constraint, hanji’s malleable nature navigates thought through tangibility. a/Void is an internal battle of compartmentalization, acknowledging folded paper as structural tools to expand internal understanding, a healing therapy to manifest tactility from an overwhelmed circle of avoidance. Like crumbled sketches thrown into the trash, folds of paper attempt order within a psyche overwhelmed. And like the colors of ogansaek, my thoughts continue its mixture of restoration with retribution.
Hanji Edition 2021
This second volume in a series was published in 2021 and features experimental works by five artists from around the world. All hanji used in the portfolio was produced at Jangjibang, a hanji mill in South Korea; some pieces are dyed with natural materials like lacquer, indigo, amur corktree and day lily. Included is a handbound booklet with letterpress printed hanji covers, an introductory essay by publishers Steph Rue and Lars Kim, and biographies and short essays by each artist. The custom enclosure measures 10 1/8 x 11 1/2 x 3 3/8 inches. Hanji Edition first premiered at the CODEX International Book Fair 2022 from April 10-13, 2022. It is now available for purchase and comes in an edition of 20.
A6 Hangeul Prints
Letterpress print of the 한글 (Hangeul) alphabet, available in a range of papers and ink colors.
Size: A6 (4.5” x 6.25”)
Designed and printed by Lars Kim