Hyun Jung Ahn : Rendezvous
April 2 – May 7 2022
Born and raised in South Korea, Ahn is a multidisciplinary artist who moved to New York City in 2015 in pursuit of her second M.F.A. Her work investigates abstraction through enigmatic forms she terms “shapes of mind.” The cultural differences and language barriers she experienced when she moved to the United States forced Ahn to “quiet her mind,” as she states. Her work evolved from the figurative and representational to a reduced abstraction that economized and purified her expression. The result was a new visual language that became more hermetic and enigmatic in color and form. Although today she is mostly Brooklyn based, she continues to straddle both cultures by maintaining a studio and teaching position in Seoul.
During an artist residency at Mass MoCA a few years ago, Ahn was introduced to working with textiles, weaving, and sewing machines. The latter became an integral breakthrough in her artistic practice. She began to stitch canvases together, the seam offering alternative ways to make a mark on the material. Although created with the use of a sewing machine, these marks are not perfect and are evocative of a line drawn across the canvas. They reflect her preoccupation with the immediate and the continued sense of the hand on the final artwork.
Ahn’s process begins with creating a visual diary through small drawings that capture feelings, personal connections, and emotional states of being. These are then transferred into larger drawings, paintings, and sculpture. For this exhibition, Ahn will present paintings created in the last year in her Brooklyn and Seoul studios. These works reflect a rendezvous, a point of reconnection and coming together, a reflection of the world as it began to open. The compositional shapes and lines are geometric abstractions with soft curves, a deliberate departure from harder edged forms. For Ahn , the round organic forms are more relatable on an emotional level. Her carefully moderated palette further echoes the temperature of a sentiment. Most of the works in the show conjure the color and light of the sky at different times of the day, perhaps an unconscious meditation on the accessibility to the outdoors. The artist enjoys executing paintings in series, and many of these works have companions in diptych or triptych forms.
In many ways Ahn’s work has a foothold in the firstgeneration South Korean abstract artists that emerged in the 1970s. While her approach to the materials may differ from the Dansaekwa tradition, she shares with her forbearers their meditative process, their physicality with the material and their monochromatic, non - figurative neutral hues. Her minimalist compositions are not only formalist concerns with line, color, and flatness, but also offer a timeless tranquility through an ordered and balanced harmony.
The Layers of Clouds in Night , 2021 Acrylic on sewn canvas 57 ¼ x 44 inches
The Layers of Clouds , 2021 Acrylic on canvas 57 ¼ x 44 inches
The Layers of Clouds in White and French Blue , 2021
Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 46 x 37 ¾ inches
The Evening to the Evening 01 , 2021 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 46 x 37 ¾ inches
The Evening to the Evening 02 , 2021 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 46 x 37 ¾ inches
A Piece of Night , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 30 x 30 inches
Rendezvous, Pieces of Sunshine, Deep Yellow , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 24 x 20 inches
Rendezvous, Pieces of Sunshine, White , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 24 x 20 inches
Rendezvous, Reds , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 16 x 12 inches
You Can Talk to Me , 2022 Sewn cotton, canvas, and linen 16 x 12 inches
Rendezvous, White and Blue , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 16 x 12 inches
The Ocean Blue Eyes 01 , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 46 x 36 inches
The Ocean Blue Eyes 02 , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 46 x 36 inches
Untitled , 2022 Mixed media on sewn canvas 16 x 12 inches
A Piece of Forest , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas and linen 16 x 12 inches
Rendezvous, You and Me 01 , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 30 x 30 inches
Rendezvous, You and Me 02 , 2022 Acrylic on sewn canvas 30 x 30 inches
EDUCATION
2017 M.F.A. Painting and Drawing, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2013 M.F.A. Painting, Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, Korea
2010 B.F.A. Duksung Women’s University, Seoul, Korea
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
2022 Hyun Jung Ahn : Rendezvous , Heather Gaudio Fine Art , New Canaan, CT
2021 The Time of Clouds , Space Kyeol , Seoul , Korea
2019 Shapes of Mind , Gallery La Mer, Seoul, Korea
2017 What I Wanted to Say , Dekalb Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2013 The One Delicate Moment , Gallery La Mer, Seoul, Korea
2012 From Here , Insa Gallery, Seoul, Korea
GROUP
2021
My Home: Abstract Language , Gallery Kabinett , Seoul , Korea
Shifting Sands , Chashama , New York, NY
2020 Set Apart , Uprise Art, New York, NY
The Story that Only I Can See , Dohing Art, Seoul, Korea
In/ Between:Transfigure 2020 supported by NYFA IAP , New York, NY
East - West Expressway curated by Michael Brennan , Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2019 Sarah Shepard Gallery and 3 Walls , Sarah Shepard Gallery , Larkspur, CA
Two - person show: Hidden Artists in Hidden M , Hidden M Gallery, Seoul, Korea
Banditto Emerging Art Prize Group show , Galleria Banditto , Tuscany, Italy Colors , Ian Art Space, Seoul, Korea
2018 Bear Necessities: Pratt Fine Arts Alumni Exhibition , Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY Nu Perspectives , Nu Hotel, Brooklyn, NY Asia week Special Exhibition: Passion. Continued , Gallery Korea, Korean Cultural Center , New York, NY
2017 Unrestricted; Trestle Art Space resident artists group show , Trestle Gallery, Brooklyn, NY BOW , The Midway Gallery, San Francisco, CA Passion. Connected, 100x100 , Gallery Korea, Korean Cultural Center, New York, NY Art Hearts Fashion at New York Fashion Week , Angel Orensanz Foundation, New York, NY
Small Works 2017 curated by Bill Carroll , Trestle Gallery , Brooklyn , NY
The Graduate Fine Arts 2017 , Schafler Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2016 Never Stop Never Settle (Wild rabbit project from Hennessy ) , Art Basel, Miami, FL Potluck , Steuben Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
The Unoriginal Show , Pratt Gallery, Pratt Institute , Brooklyn , NY
2015 All at Once , Steuben Gallery, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, NY
2014 ASYAAF (Asia Students and Young Artists Art Festival), Culture Station Seoul 284 ,Seoul , Korea
2013 Muet , Jaemi Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2012 Link Between , Yeon Gallery, Jeju Island, Korea
2011 8th Moving Sound , Gana Art Space, Seoul, Korea
2010 7th Moving Sound , Kwanhoon Gallery, Seoul, Korea Quark , Gallery PICI, Seoul, Korea
AWARDS
2019 Emerging Art Award, Banditto Art, Tuscany, Italy
2017 Outstanding Merit at 2017 Graduation Awards, Pratt Institute , Brooklyn, NY
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
TD Bank Corporation Art Collection, Canada
