Volume Gallery is pleased to announce Common Formation, Sung Jang’s upcoming exhibition with the gallery, opening Saturday November 7, 2026 from 4 to 7PM.
In these new works, Sung Jang arranges pebbles into measured grids across linen surfaces, binding them in place with drops of acrylic paint in primary yellow and more muted tones. The overall structure is deliberate, with much of the work’s formal complexity inherited from the found material. Each stone’s edges, proportions, and orientation continually interrupt the grid’s regularity, resisting the uniformity the system seems to promise. Subtle changes in scale, tone, and translucency accumulate across the surface, transforming what might appear at first to be a simple composition into something that rewards sustained observation.
Celebrated for his Given pieces, which mount large found stones, and Shape of Land inked sand paintings depicting landscapes from memory, Jang has long been drawn to the possibilities of natural materials. Common Formation extends that inquiry into the commonplace. The gravel stones in these works are unassuming, weathered fragments: some gathered near rivers and mountains in his home country of South Korea, softened by water and time; others collected in Chicago, where Jang currently lives and works. Their individual histories are ambiguous; and by combining stones without visible distinctions of provenance, Jang creates pieces that are quietly autobiographical—connected to place and memory.
The term “formation” in the exhibition’s title holds two meanings: it refers to the eons-long process of geological formation that produced these stones under incredible pressure, and the artistic formation that brings them into intentional arrangements for close looking. Authorship ultimately lies in Jang’s selection and placement—a gesture both Duchampian and deeply informed by suseok, a traditional Korean art form centered on the contemplative appreciation of natural stone. In suseok, a stone must be ordinary in an extraordinary way, possessing an indefinable quality that reveals itself through sustained attention. While that tradition privileges singular, exceptional specimens, Jang draws awareness to small pearls of gravel that familiarity might otherwise render invisible.
Seen from a distance, the work is a unified pattern. Up close, the grid opens into separate moments—each stone unique. Common Formation is an invitation to look slowly at ordinary materials.
Common Formation will be on view through December 19, 2026.
Sung Jang is a graduate of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and Domus Academy in Milan with a Master’s in Design. He began his career in Milan at Samsung Design Milano before beginning his teaching career as faculty at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s Designed Objects program. Since 2013, Jang has served at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Design as an Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Industrial Design program. Jang has worked with international brands such as Louis Vuitton, Guzzini, and Roche Bobois and has exhibited internationally at the Stony Island Arts Bank, Venice Biennale, Design Miami, the Victoria and Albert Museum, The Armory Show, and Chamber NYC, among others. Examples of his work are included in the Art Institute of Chicago’s collection and numerous private collections.