As part of her Jeong series, the rectangular grid is a recurring basic form that runs through the body of work by Suki Seokyeong Kang. Though the grid is a dominant compositional element and governing principle of Western modernist abstraction, with this work Kang references grid components found in Korean music, art, and architecture. Specifically, symbols from the Jeongganbo, an innovative musical score created in the 15th century along with Hangeul, the Korean writing system, form the basis of her important Jeong series.

The Jeongganbo marks the length and pitch of each note in each square section of the character jeong (井), which is shaped like a checkerboard and means “well.” For Kang, these square sections were thought of as a framing device that held both sound and movement. In this way, the Jeong becomes a conceptual structure that proposes a certain operational mode of time and narrative. In Kang’s singularly expansive way, she uses historical, traditional concepts to examine the framework of society and the personal domain allowed within it. The grid can also be found as a basic element of traditional Korean architecture, made up of gan, and recalls the aesthetic of chakyung, a concept that borrows (cha) the beautiful scenery (kyung) beyond the window in order to bring it into the interior of the building. Some of the Jeong works evoke windows in their shape and orientation, thereby creating frames that connect the interior and exterior. Even as the Jeong series focuses our gaze on and in the rectangular form through these assorted variations on the grid, the works also dictate the limits of our vision and invite us to look beyond. Kang’s Jeong works become a fundamental framework for dividing and compartmentalizing space itself.