Kang Mok and Kimi Jaak explore the uncertain boundary between expression and blankness in a two-person exhibition

MGFS100 Gallery is presenting Expression and Blankness, a two-person exhibition featuring Korean artists Kang Mok and Kimi Jaak, through Nov. 29.

The exhibition begins with a familiar assumption: facial expressions reveal what a person feels, while an expressionless face keeps those feelings hidden. By placing the artists’ distinctive figures in conversation, however, the show questions whether the boundary between revelation and concealment is ever so clear.

A smile may mask loneliness, while an apparently blank face can contain emotions that remain difficult to identify. Rather than treating facial expressions as reliable evidence of a person’s inner state, the exhibition approaches the face as an ambiguous surface onto which viewers project their own memories and feelings.

Kang Mok presents “Donggri,” a circular face resembling the artist and functioning as the smallest unit of his visual language. When multiple Donggri figures overlap and look toward one another, their gazes create relationships across the composition. Through these encounters, Kang visualises the directions in which affection is offered, received and returned.

Kimi Jaak’s “John Doe,” by contrast, is defined by the removal of individual identity. Its name refers to an unidentified person, while its expressionless features combine anonymity with universality. With no specific emotion or personal history provided, viewers are encouraged to recognise parts of themselves in the figure.

The two artists therefore approach the face from different directions. Kang builds emotional relationships through repeated gazes and overlapping forms, while Kimi Jaak removes visible emotion to create space for personal interpretation. Together, their works suggest that a face does not simply communicate a fixed inner truth. It may reveal, disguise or reflect emotions depending on who is looking.

Expression and Blankness runs from Oct. 31 through Nov. 29, 2026, at MGFS100 Gallery.

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