Creative use of medium separates sculptor's work from the pack

Cheong-ah Hwang is a young artist who is alive with ideas and a sense of fun. The exhibition of her latest paper-relief sculpture at the Ohio Art League Gallery reveals a wonderfully imaginative use of her material and a remarkable handling of the medium. With the flat, two-dimensional material, cut and shaped, Hwang creates three-dimensional objects with surprising assertiveness.

In Updo, a large representation of a swept-up hairdo seen from the back, she achieved elaborate clusters of curls with carefully cut loops of white paper. The hairlike paper, smoothed upward, seems to grow up from the nape with a suggestion of volume, while delicate contours create the appearance of a neck and ears.

Everything is hand cut, Hwang said. She makes sketches then blows up their scale, paying close attention to the relationship of the parts.

In Liar, the artist fools the spectator's eye into believing in the presence of a human body under a bed sheet. But there is no body, and the sheet is make of mulberry paper. She achieved the illusion by placing a large, wet sheet of paper over a human figure, then blow-drying the paper before removing it. The final result looks like the real thing, especially so because it is life size.

Occupied, which gives its title to the show, is a very small, subtle piece, quite different from other works. It looks somewhat like a shadowbox, with the vague shape of a seated human form functioning in and undefined space. "It is about human presence" Hwang said, "as all (the works in the show) are about the physical and visual impressions made by human beings."

Loop Dude also is different. It functions in space rather than being hung on the wall, and it is brightly colored where all the other works in the show are white. With its legs in red pants hanging from the veiling and the red-clad head (with ear phones) and shoulders, Loop Dude truly is a fun piece.

Hwang was born in Korea and came to the United States in 1992. She studied art and technology at Ohio State University, then began making paper-relief sculptures in 2000. There is much promise in her work.