Kang Chaena’s solo exhibition “Supa Salad Bowl” is running through Oct. 17 at OMG in Seoul’s Hannam-dong neighbourhood. The exhibition is open from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday.
The exhibition examines how personal taste has become a way of constructing identity among people born in the 2000s. Its title refers to the “salad bowl” model, in which individual ingredients retain their distinct qualities instead of blending into a single whole.
Kang applies this idea to a generation whose preferences have become increasingly fragmented through expanded access to online information, fashion, music and visual culture.
Her paintings depict people, objects and situations selected from everyday life, including family members, friends, part-time jobs, her companion animal Duboo, clothing, accessories, vintage goods, musicians, video calls and mental health. These subjects are presented without a clear hierarchy, allowing personal possessions and passing interests to form a broader portrait of the artist and her generation.
The installation extends this approach beyond the canvases. The exhibition uses no conventional pedestals and is arranged to resemble a private room containing paintings, clothing and small personal objects. Visitors are asked to enter without shoes and may try on a Chrome Hearts cap displayed near the ventilation fan.
Several works address emotional states directly. “I’M NOKAY” centres on the act of acknowledging distress, while “I Can’t Do Anything” depicts two clenched fists submerged in cold water as a method of calming anger. “Papa” considers the steadiness of an older family member, and “Ma Friends!” incorporates tattoo-like messages across the figure’s body.
The title work, “SupaSaladBowl,” shows vintage T-shirts arranged on a blanket like goods at a flea market. The shirts represent objects the artist wants but may not be able to possess. Images found through overseas shopping sites, rare fashion pieces and musicians including Aphex Twin consequently enter the paintings as both objects of desire and material for self-observation.
Kang also draws on older or niche forms of popular culture. She collects LPs and sometimes listens to music on a turntable rather than through streaming services. In her work, childhood memories, online images, performance footage, vintage clothing and music are rearranged within the present.
Rather than presenting a fixed archive of her preferences, Kang repeatedly revises the paintings during production. Images that no longer feel appropriate are partially erased or covered with new forms and emotional references. Taste therefore appears not as a stable category but as an evolving process through which the artist observes and reconstructs herself.
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Maria Kim sayart2022@gmail.com
