[Exhibition of the Week] Florence Yuki Lee Solo Exhibition · Na Hyewon, Byun Jin 'Miscellany' etc.

Editor's NoteThis week's exhibitions introduce a variety of attractive shows from across the country that can be experienced over the course of a week.

▲ Florence Yuki Lee Solo Exhibition 'Let it sprout beneath my skin' = Art Side Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition by media artist Florence Yuki Lee. This exhibition is the artist's first solo show in Korea, featuring not only media works but also prints, original paintings, and installations. She composes transient forms, living experiences, and visual metaphors, exploring multilayered connections between her cultural identity by finding ideas and inspiration in the everyday.

you build a home in my mind, 2023, video Installation [Photo by Art Side Gallery]

The Hong Kong-born artist majored in Graphic Communication Design at Central Saint Martins and the University of the Arts London, then completed a master's degree in Media Creative at the City University of Hong Kong in 2021. Currently, her media work 'Park Voyage,' commissioned by the M+ Museum in Hong Kong, is exhibited at the arrival hall of Hong Kong International Airport, attracting international attention.

Based on childhood memories of playgrounds, she presents works that capture childhood nostalgia using objects closely related to parks. Playgrounds remain a source of joy and a space for play for children today. However, for some, they can also be places of loneliness or waiting. The artist recalls her own childhood waiting for her mother until late at night when the streetlights turned on while observing such playgrounds.

Park Voyage, 2023, Hong Kong International Airport
[Photo by Artside Gallery]

Confronting another self placed in contrasting situations, the artist thought the playground was a perfect medium to contain those emotions from that time. She expresses this through various forms such as animation, installation, and drawing, creating a unique artistic world.

Through the exhibition, visitors can recall their own childhoods in a space newly created from a single place?the playground?and form a mutual empathy. Also, they encounter opportunities to discover something special that they had not seen among the things naturally encountered in daily life. The artist said, "I hope that people of different nationalities can share each other's memories through the places created by my work." The exhibition runs until February 29 at Art Side Gallery, Jahamun-ro 6-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul.

Byeonjin, One Afternoon, Spent Time Sitting Blankly, 2023, Oil on canvas, 53x91cm
[Photo by Rahin Gallery]

▲ Na Hyewon and Byun Jin Two-Person Exhibition 'Miscellany' = Rahin Gallery presents the two-person exhibition 'Miscellany' by artists Na Hyewon and Byun Jin. The exhibition contemplates how personal subjects arising from life can gain unique value.

The exhibition finds exemplary forms in literature that are based on lyricism and intellect and employ imagination in everyday experiences. This is miscellany (경수필), which reveals the creator's experiences with delicacy that counts even trivial things. Through the essayistic idea and form of 'writing oneself,' it captures the perspectives of Na Hyewon and Byun Jin, who give meaning to reality and overcome everydayness with everydayness.

The true meaning of an essay lies in contemplating the reason for existence from close objects and shaping the relationship with them through contemplative imagination. Considering this essence of essays, the works of the two artists exude lyricism that literaryizes themselves like an essay painting.

For example, conveying 'my story' starting from the inner self with the artist as the protagonist, or the aspect where the artist's story transforms into the reader's story like a butterfly effect, fits well with the essayistic idea and form.

Na Hye-won, Old Relationship, 2023, Oil on canvas, 70x60cm [Photo courtesy of Raheen Gallery]

Moreover, the key to the essayistic idea is to draw out imagery that seems visible but is not clearly revealed from life. The two artists vividly realize this value within the context of visual art by expressing experiences on the factual level with open eyes.

'Miscellany' thus highlights their works that depict life stories through their own lenses and closely examines how the two artists bring serious life before the audience with the powerful resonance of their paintings. The exhibition runs until March 9 at Rahin Gallery, Hangang-daero 50-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul.

Echoes of the Mountain. 116.7x91.0. Acrylic on canvas. 2023 [Photo by Gallery Insa Art]

▲ Shin Hyunguk Curated Invitational Exhibition = Gallery Insa Art holds a solo exhibition of Shin Hyunguk (86), known as the 'Painter of Gyeryongsan.' The artist has captured nature on canvas for over 40 years. Mountains are a lifelong theme for him. The artist says, "I learn from the mountain. Like the mountain, with dignified and profound mystery, embracing all joys and sorrows, even the blade-like wind, with a proud self-esteem touching the sky, I endlessly paint and wander the mountain facing the sky, learning from it."

Flowers, grass, and even the wind?all elements of the mountain?become important subjects for the artist. Through the giant image of the mountain, he suggests that the vital energy embracing living beings may be the true essence of beauty. The beauty he presents is precisely the energy of life. By intensely expressing the life force dwelling in the mountain, he directly approaches the essence of beauty.

Echoes of the Mountain. 100.0x80.3. Acrylic on canvas. 2023 [Photo by Gallery Insa Art]

The artist, who says, "Rather than the joy from a momentary sense of unity, I dream of the endless origin by gazing at myself within the traces of struggles and earnest knots that have moved forward," concludes the image of the mountain as a habitat for living beings into a giant, unbreakable presence. Through this, he completes his artistic world that pursues aesthetic beauty. The exhibition runs until February 5 at Gallery Insa Art, Insadong-gil 56, Jongno-gu, Seoul.