Divided light #38, 1996

Su Kwak was born in Busan and received her MFA from the University of Chicago in 1979. She is now based in Washington, DC. She had one-person exhibitions at the Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, in 1986; at the June Kelly Gallery, New York, in 2004 and 2009; and at the Sun Gallery, Seoul, in 2009. Her work is in the collection of the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Kwachon, the Seoul Museum of Art and the Busan Metropolitan Museum, among others.

Kwak imbues her painting with a message of healing. The painting surface is complex. She often cuts and stitches the surface of her canvases. Shapes are cut out and reapplied. Some say her paintings have the power to heal.