Nayoungim (b. 1966) and Gregory Maass (b. 1967) have been working together since 2004 as the collaborative art duo Nayoungim & Gregory Maass. Nayoungim graduated from Seoul National University’s Sculpture Department in 1987 and Ecole nationale superieure des beaux-arts in 1996. Maass studied philosophy at Universite Paris- Sorbonne from 1991 to 1992, graduated from the Ecole nationale superieure des beaux-arts in 1993, studied at the Institute des de Paris hautesetudes en arts plastiques from 1993 to 1994, and at the Jan van Eyck Academie, the Netherlands from 1998 to 2000. The duo has held about 20 solo and group exhibitions in Korea and various European countries including France, their base on the European continent, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Belgium. Thanks to their residency experiences in diverse countries, these two open and freewheeling artists have worked together in synergy.
Nayoungim and Gregory Maass have created witty and fun installations, mainly using everyday objects. The duo put protagonists of comic books or character action figures in their works, sometimes quoting a scene from a film or a novel, and other times borrowing familiar images of masterpieces in art history―whether it be from the West or the East, ancient or contemporary times. A mixed array of images in their works instantly results in a simple visual delight. However, the implication they create is not simple. The intermixed images jumble together different historical, social, and cultural narratives from diverse contexts and blur the division between them, thereby making our obsession with relationship or communication meaningless. The duo has quickly perceived and responded to fast-changing situations, simultaneously embracing the old and new, and the familiar and unfamiliar. Such an attitude is also observed in their project Kim Kim Gallery. Without brick and mortar existence, this one-of-its-kind gallery holds exhibitions of diverse forms at various places, chosen by the duo according to their intention with each show. The project has questioned the existing way of exhibiting art and the conventions in art business. All this starts with the duo’s long-held, fundamental questions: How does art function? How is art expressed? How can art and artists survive together? As seen in Kim Kim Gallery’s example, they have actively brought their artistic motives to life thanks to their energetic planning and efficient approach.
