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Trellis Art Fund

Our mission is to support the creative work of individual artists through unrestricted grants, professional support, and community.

Young Joon Kwak

2024 Milestone Grantee

Bio

Young Joon Kwak (b. 1984, Queens, New York; lives and works in Los Angeles) received a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007, an MA from the University of Chicago in 2010, and an MFA from the University of Southern California in 2014. They are the founder of Mutant Salon, a queer-transfem-BIPOC collective beauty salon and collaborative art and performance platform. They are also the lead performer of the drag-electronic-dance-noise band Xina Xurner. Their work has been widely exhibited at galleries and museums internationally, including at the Hammer Museum’s biennial exhibition Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living. Their next solo exhibition "Resistance Pleasure" opens at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive in August 2024.

Artwork controls

Artwork details

Installation View of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living

, 2023InstallationDimensions VariableHammer Museum
Installation View of Made in L.A. 2023: Acts of Living, 2023. Installation. Dimensions Variable. Hammer Museum

Artwork

  • Colorful, bedazzled abstract art on a white gallery wall. Three sets of two-dimensional artwork and sculptures suspended from the ceiling are paired up in similar color schemes: pink and blue, yellow and blue, and green and blue. The suspended sculptures float above low and circular pedestals.
  • Two brown, textured sculptures resembling muscular torsos are displayed on a white surface in a gallery.
  • A circular sculpture is suspended from the ceiling against a white background. The sculpture consists of bedazzled intertwined hands. The hands' interiors are bright pink.
  • Displayed are abstract sculptures on pedestals elevated from a lower pedestal. On the left is a tall beige torso. A pink vertical form is displayed in the middle, and a curved yellow shape is on the right. A sheer white curtain acts as a backdrop. Nearby, behind the curtain is a black sculpture with a reflective orb in the middle.
  • A textured, abstract sculpture is suspended from the ceiling with wires. The sculpture resembles a human torso with a dark, rough surface. The exterior and other side of the sculpture is covered in patterned bejewels.

2024 Milestone Cohort Grantees

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