KAPPAO

Galleria Patricia Armocida is happy to announce a new solo exhibition by Kappao, opening on Thursday September 22nd at 7:00 p.m. 

For this occasion, the artist will present 78 small and medium sized ceramic works and 8 panel paintings. 

After studying Sociology at the University of Korea in Seoul, Kappao moves to Italy to at the Brera Academy of Milan. Upon returning to Korea, she continues to sculpt using the ceramic technique, and paints as well. 

Kappao's art explores human relationships in present-day society. From birth, people create relationships with others and interact with family members, friends, lovers, co-workers. In these relationships, everyone forms their own emotions and personalities, they understand the thoughts and feelings of others, and they establish social boundaries. 

The emotional empathy we share with those near to us, but also with pets, with familiar objects and spaces, allows us to be ourselves and gives us psychological comfort. 

Yet within this network of relationships with the outside world, we are like small islands, connected by a thin dotted line that joins us but also keeps us at a safe distance from each other. 

Kappao’s ceramic figures have expressions that are ambivalent, difficult to perceive, they have no gender, age, or other characteristics that refer to their identity. They have subtle facial expressions that convey curiosity, indifference, joy, or boredom. At times they seem happy, at times they don’t, at times they seem embarrassed by the feelings they’re trying to suppress, in vain, because they’re overwhelmed by the moment they’re experiencing. Their faces look away from the eyes of viewers, as if trying to hide their thoughts.

Through these expressions and the connections they form with viewers, Kappao tries to capture the essence of the subjects and the interactions between humans, a constant bouncing between comfort, solitude, and alienation. 

In her paintings, small spaces, secret gardens, homes, birds, and trees are rhythmically lined up on a theater-like stage. Tiny objects and various motifs are playfully arranged, much like in the free-form imagination of children. An atmosphere of casual and spontaneous life that leads to an inner journey and that comforts the mind. 

Kappao’s figures represent a portrait of each of us and the psychological complexity of present-day humans.

Biography: 

Kappao (Ko Myeong-shin) was born in Jeju, South Korea in 1977.

The pseudonym KAPPAO comes from the Italian pronunciation of the spelling of her name: Ko. In this case as well, Kappao indirectly addresses relationships and the emotional reactions that we can imagine arose when trying to pronounce her name. 

In 2009 she studied decorative arts at The Brera National Academy in Milan. Her works have been shown internationally: HAND IN HAND. HOBAN art salon, Gwangmyeong 2021; I'm home. Lotte gallery. Busan 2021;Precious things, precious things are precious. Atelier AKI, Seoul 2020; Little Forest, Lotte Gallery, Seoul 2018; Circus, Noblesse collection, Seoul 2017; Kappao World, Gana art edition, Seoul 2015; The Delicacy of Tiny Things: DIEM+KAPPAO, Galleria Patricia Armocida, Milan, 2012; The Uneasy Truth, The White Gallery, Milan 2010.