Eddie Kang at Gana Art Los Angeles

Eddie Kang, Draw Your Own Map (2026). Acrylic on city map, 16 x 23 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Gana Art Los Angeles.

Eddie Kang paints comics. His show, Tale of Tales at Gana Art Los Angeles, features a collection of characters who appear in stand-alone panels and sculptures. The pieces are whimsical, cartoonish; their emerald, blue, and lavender tones are soothing. In a series titled Comic (2026), a puppy, a robot, and two humanoids are seen in inked outlines. Each character has its own individual panel, and the panels do not interact in any narrative way. In the first, a pink bear floats among other doodles. In the second, a robot vibrates and emits an exclamation. There is certainly no dialogue to connect these images—the robot’s speech bubble contains only a pink scribble. Other cutesy characters emerge: a mysterious white Yeti holding a balloon, a teddy bear. Kang drops these characters directly onto undefined backdrops, either before random squiggles or in front of simple landscapes (think: yellow sun, green grass, purple sky). Flat backdrops are what we expect from the comic form—but this is usually in order to center and augment the comic’s narrative. Without a narrative, the backgrounds are just that: flat. 

When we see obvious characters, when we hear the term “comics,” we expect a narrative. But to introduce a narrative is to introduce a problem. There is no problem in Kang’s work. It is cute, it is comforting—adorable even. Counting Stars (2022) shows a Yeti gazing at the moon—no beginning, middle, or end. No conflict—the characters are suspended in a kind of timeless substrate with little context. Actually, it is hard to evaluate the characters beyond their surface. It is hard to locate them inside a tale. 

Eddie Kang, Counting Stars (2022). Acrylic on paper, 9.5 x 7 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Gana Art Los Angeles.

The closest we get to a real story is in a series of four works, each titled Draw your own map (2026). The Yeti is drawn onto found tourist maps, sometimes with a companion. Overlaid onto a map of the Hudson Valley, New York inlaid into a free-handed background, are the floating words: “I was angry. I was vain. I was charming. I was foolish. I was young.” Finally, a sense of the past. On the map of Providence, Rhode Island, Kang has written “Hope” and “No Fear” amidst a cloud of scribbles.

Hope and fear are future-oriented feelings, although I’m not quite sure who they belong to. The other two maps have no text, except for the printed advertisements, coupons, street names, and visitor’s center information. This intrusion of the real world reveals what the cutesy backdrops lack: On the maps, the characters must navigate the puzzles of living. Our world is a problem: messy, something to solve, something to hope for or fear. But without these stakes, Kang’s world is static—albeit, wonderful, even magical—but not a tale worth recounting. In a tale, there is action. Kang’s work feels like heaven: sweet, easy, escapist, but a place where nothing ever happens.

Eddie Kang, It will be alright (2025). Acrylic on canvas, 11 x 9 inches. Image courtesy of the artist and Gana Art Los Angeles.

Eddie Kang: Tale of Tales runs from February 21 – April 11, 2026 at Gana Art Los Angeles.

Sean Koa Seu is a writer, dramaturg, and critic. He writes about representations of the Southland in art, film, and literature. His work has appeared in The Rebis and in zine form at the L.A. Art Book Fair. He is currently pursuing an MA in Aesthetics and Politics at CalArts.

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