Incheon's Crocat House hosts group exhibition featuring 6 Korean, global artists

Art is on display at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

A group of Korean and foreign artists opened an exhibition at Crocat House, a new cultural and arts complex in Incheon that is transforming an old industrial waterfront zone into a platform for exhibitions, performances, pop-ups, seminars, busking and community events.

The exhibition, titled "Felt Seams — What the Tide Erases, the Body Holds," tells a narrative in which seams emerge between body and world, memory and image, past and present, private feeling and shared space. Hence, six artists moving through different materials, places and sensibilities trace seams between what is felt and what remains.

For Korean artist and curator Sung A Jang, art is less about fixed definitions and more about exchanges between ideas, people and spaces. Having grown up moving between Korea and the United States, she developed a fluid understanding of identity, belonging and place, which strongly informs both her art and curatorial approach.

“I’m a third culture kid. I grew up hopping back and forth between Korea and the U.S. I see things as essentially fluid — identity, place, belonging, medium, discipline — and I don’t really feel the need to force coherence. I’m more interested in what happens in between things, places, languages, ways of seeing and inhabiting,” she told The Korea Times.

Korean artist and curator Sung A Jang speaks during an exhibition opening event at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

That openness and flexibility became the inspiration for the group exhibition she helped shape at Crocat House. She highlighted that rather than approaching the project through a conventional gallery format where artists are simply assigned sections, it evolved through experimentation and collaboration.

Jang spent ample time trying to get a deeper sense of each artist’s work, so that she could weave the pieces together in a way that felt both distinct and connected — separate, but coming together as a whole. She also spoke with the head of the Crocat House about the history of the area and what he was trying to build with the space. From there, she chose a theme that she felt strongly fit and reflected their individual works, shared identity as a group and the aspirations of the space itself.

“We were given free rein to do what we wanted with the space. Early on, I began floating ideas for how we might approach it more playfully and creatively. I wanted each story to unfold naturally within the space we were occupying together. It was great fun working together to connect the pieces and think about how the works could speak to one another,” she said.

People look at art during an exhibition opening event at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Korea-based American artist John Shrader is continuing to expand his artistic practice through a growing collection of figurative sculptures and paintings that reflect human emotions, personality and inner conflict.

Speaking about his participation in the exhibition, he explained that he first connected with the group through a previous exhibition where he showcased paintings featuring coins and birds, some of which are now included in an auction display. This time, however, he wanted to introduce artworks that people had not seen before, combining new sculptural pieces with selected earlier works.

“I had the sculptures, which are my figurative forms, where I focus on contrapposto, but then as I work and develop them, they each have their own personality. One is kind of a person who is always keeping their head down and trying to avoid conflict. But in avoiding conflict, he invites more suffering to himself,” he said of his work.

Artist John Shrader speaks during an exhibition opening event at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

“But then another one is called 'Heartless,' or Moujon, and that's the one that has puffed up and prideful, but their heart's missing. They don't really see how they affect other people, or they don't notice how they affect other people. Do we see such people in daily life? Everywhere. But sometimes it's in ourselves. And sometimes those are the worst parts of ourselves when we're acting a little too much one way or the other way. So sometimes, those are exaggerations. I do know one or two people who can be that one or the other.”

Artist Christopher Henry, originally from San Diego, has been living in Songdo, Incheon, for the past three and a half years after relocating to Korea. For him, creativity has always been deeply connected to history, culture and craftsmanship. A professional artist since 2008, his unusual artistic journey began with reproducing Stone Age tools and weapons using the same traditional methods employed by early humans. His work was featured in museums, television productions, major motion pictures and private collections. While the pieces are fully functional, Henry also infused them with his own artistic style, drawing from his formal art education.

Artist Christopher Henry speaks during an exhibition opening event at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

Since moving to Korea, Henry has become actively involved in the local art scene, participating in numerous group exhibitions and holding a solo exhibition in Seoul. He recently joined another collaborative exhibition through connections with fellow artists, describing the project as something that had been “a year and a half in the making.”

When asked about the differences between the Korean and American art scenes, he said Korean art often embraces playful, nature-inspired aesthetics, while contemporary American art tends to be more topical and political. At the same time, he believes the internet has helped shift creative power away from elite institutions and back into the hands of ordinary artists and audiences.

“What makes something good now is not only what the art world says, it’s also what the people connect with.”

He added that living in Korea has opened up new creative inspiration for him. Immersing in a different culture and landscape has given him “fresh things to draw upon” as an artist.

Some of the participating artists pose with the head of Crocat House, middle, during an exhibition opening event at Crocat House in Incheon, May 16. Courtesy of Bereket Alemayehu

The exhibition runs until June 15.

Visit crocathouse.com or follow @crocat_house on Instagram for more information.

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He’s also the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative, and a freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.