Bountiful
Eunju Kang & Fumiko Toda
Hudson
For our second consecutive year as a participant with Upstate Art Weekend, we are delighted to feature Bountiful, a two-person exhibition with recent work by Eunju Kang and Fumiko Toda. We are pleased to present the work of two AAPI women artists in Bountiful, on view from July 20-August 27, with an Artists’ Reception on Saturday, July 22, 5-7PM. Upstate Art Weekend 2023 showcases over 130 cultural organizations, celebrating art and culture in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills.
Eunju Kang recently debuted as a solo artist with SEFA at our NYC venue in Fall 2022. In her Hudson show, Kang’s practice will be represented by monoprints and large watercolor paintings on paper—reflecting the artist’s unique minimalistic expression of the still life genre. After moving to the US from Korea, the artist received a BFA in painting from UC Santa Barbara and a second BFA in illustration from Pasadena Art Center. In terms of subject and imagery, Kang favors working from observation—whether painting a vase of flowers, the view from her studio window or, most recently, still lifes composed of single flowers, fruits and vegetables. She states: “I appreciate all these things I find in nature—be they in full bloom or decaying. I don’t judge what I see, but want to give each object the attention it is due. I find that my intense focus on a tiny flower or stem helps me to control and organize my world—it is a glimpse into honesty.”
Fumiko Toda has been working with SEFA since her first exhibition in 2010. Her paintings and prints have an obsessive quality of intricate details. Viewers witness a repetition of forms and patterns rendered in vibrant color. She often includes insects—notably ants and butterflies—and other small creatures in her compositions, celebrating the natural world. To the artist, these beings have a biographical significance. Toda found observing wildlife to be a calming reprieve during her troubled childhood. The artist grew up in a rural community outside of Kyoto, Japan. She studied at the Sugii Art Institution in Mie and graduated from Kyoto University of Art and Design in 2000. In 2001, Toda moved to New York City, where she studied painting, figurative drawing, and printmaking at the National Academy of Fine Art. She states: “my paintings are representative of the world I would like to see around me. I am inspired by nature and everyday life that I find intriguing. My artworks usually have many layers of colors, imaginaries and thoughts, but ultimately my love of color makes my painting. I look for surprise, joy, freedom in my life through art-making.”
