Barely Fair 2026
Chang Sujung: A Frog Tailor

April 4 - 19, 2026
McKinley Park, Chicago

Barely Fair, Chicago 2026
Chang Sujung
A Frog Tailor

Chang Sujung is, at heart, a rebellious girl. Her sculptural practice is rooted in the transformation of existing forms, finding in familiar objects the latent possibility of becoming something else entirely. For A Frog Tailor, her new body of work, she has sourced vintage Barbie skirts and sculpted them into autonomous forms using internal metal armatures and a Dutch fabric glue that hardens the material while preserving its surface appearance and tactile quality. These Rebellious Skirts read, at a distance, like soft fabric but reveal themselves as something altogether more fixed and willful.

The departure point is a dream in which the artist found herself inhabiting both a new body and a new occupation: that of a "frog tailor." The image draws on a Korean folk fable about a tree frog who persistently does the opposite of what he is told, a story traditionally read as a lesson in filial obedience, but which Chang reorients toward something more ambivalent. Growing older, she has written, means there is no longer anyone left to rebel against; the defiance turns inward, becoming a recursive negotiation with the self. Presented within the compressed spatial field of Barely Fair's 1:12 booths, these tiny, unyielding skirts, at once doll-scaled and monument-like, intensify that tension between softness and resistance, compliance and refusal, in close and intimate proximity.

Laura (the gallery) is making its Barely Fair debut and its first presentation in Chicago.

Note from the artist:

One night, I was a “frog tailor” in my dream. Nothing else happened. It was simply the realization of a new occupation in a new body. Like many people, when I have a peculiar dream, I try to trace it back, wondering why I had it and what it might mean.

I often think of myself as a frog. In Korean culture, derived from the fable of the tree frog, a frog symbolizes someone who does the opposite of what they are told, someone who persists even more when told not to. I think the dream came from my identification with the frog, intertwined with my daily studio work where I was spending long hours sewing garment components for new sculptures.

The moral of the story, which I probably read in first or second grade, made me think that I should listen to my mother more often. Revisiting the story as an adult, growing older means that there is no longer anyone left to rebel against. Ultimately, I can only rebel against myself.

The works presented here were made by the “frog tailor,” as I imagine myself in the dream.


The Fable of the Tree Frog

Long ago, there lived a tree frog who always did the opposite of whatever his parents told him. When his mother was dying, her deepest wish was to be buried in the mountains. But knowing that her son would surely do the opposite of whatever she might ask, she told him to bury her by the stream instead.

After she passed away, the frog felt deep regret for his lifelong disobedience. Wanting to honor her final words, he buried her by the stream just as she had asked. One night, during a terrible storm, the frog awoke, terrified that the rising water might wash her grave away. He rushed to the burial site only to find water. To this day, it is said that the growing sound of frogs croaking before a storm is actually the cries of this very frog crying out in sorrow for his mother.


Artist Bio:

Chang Sujung lives and works in New York City. Chang was born in Seoul, South Korea, and moved to the US in 2014. She received her MFA from Hunter College in 2017 and BFA from Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, in 2013. Her recent solo and two-person exhibitions include Alteration, Laura (the Gallery), Houston (2025), Detour: cul-de-sac, International Waters, New York (2022), 88.61 lbs, Hesse Flatow, New York (2020), and Beginningless sky, Endless ground, Jungganjijeom, Seoul (2019). Her work has been shown in several group exhibitions including Marinaro, New York, 56 Henry, New York, A.I.R Gallery, New York, International Objects, New York, Helena Anrather, New York, Yeh Art Gallery, St. Johns University, New York, The Richard and Dolly Maass Gallery, Purchase College, New York, Galerie Christine Mayer, Munich, Bertha and Karl Leubsdorf Gallery, New York, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, and others. She has participated in residencies at Carving Studio and Sculpture Center, Vermont (2022), BRIClab: Bridge Space, New York (2021-2022), Hercules Art Studio Program, New York (2018-2021), the Wassaic Artist Residency, New York (2017) and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Maine (2017). Chang is her last name and Sujung is her first name.