Born in 1980, Korean artist Hyunjin Kwon has established a name for herself for her vibrantly saturated practice inspired by dancing flecks of pattern and colour that appear when you close your eyes and glance into the light. This invisible, organic imagery conceptualises in Kwon’s Visual Poetry series, in which she imagines intangibility through harmonising rich layers of flowing jewel-toned hue. Rare to auction, her Pixel works beautifully exemplify Kwon’s creative approach, presenting the viewer with a kaleidoscopic grid of three-dimensional blocks of colour.
“Each work contains memories of her own. As the moments pass, the world around her and the colours of her spirit are changing. How could we grab the vanishing moments? Kwon, Hyun Jin answers it with painting.”
— Jean Louis Poitevin
Looking closely at Visual Poetry Pixel Series #696, one will notice the depth and sense of space revealed by each individually coloured cube. Revealing hypnotic interplays of texture, depth and movement, that come into their full realisation once each painted square dries, Visual Poetry Pixel Series #696 draws comparisons to the painterly approach of Bernard Frize, whom too, works with resin and chance.
Frize layers his canvases with acrylic and resin, ceding creative control to the medium as the mixture flattens and settles, with the final composition emerging only once the paint dries. Kwon minimises the human factor in her paintings as the works dry for approximately 16 hours. During this process, the paint is in a constant state of flux as it slowly marbleises, oozes and intersperses. Repeating this method for each cube in Visual Poetry Pixel Series #696, before adhering them to the canvas support in a grid formation, Kwon transforms the multidimensional painting into something simultaneously poetic. Shades of vivid yellow, red, teal, and ultramarine infuse and echo to form dreamlike illusions, magically created by the artist within the perimeters of the canvas.
Detail of the present work
Kwon received a MFA in Painting from New York’s Pratt Institute in 2006; Yonsei University in Seoul in 2012; and a PhD in Painting from Hong Ik University in Seoul in 2016. She has presented multiple exhibitions across the globe, including in Seoul, Hong Kong, Hungary, and New York, with her most recent solo show taking place at the Pyo Gallery, Seoul in 2021. She is also an adjunct professor at Korea University.
Kwon’s work is held in the permanent collections of Art Bank at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea and the Korea Embassy of Hong Kong, amongst others.
Provenance
Acquired directly from the artist by the present owner
Hyunjin Kwon (b. 1980) is a contemporary painter based in Seoul, South Korea. Her works are non-representational and abstract. She is known for her series “Visual Poetry”, where she illustrates through painting the sensation and illusions that occur when one closes their eyes and glances into the light. The artist uses a variety of materials, such as urethane and ink, to achieve the effect of her compositions. The artist has shown works at Ujung Art Center in Seoul, Korea.
signed, titled and dated 'KWON, HYUN JIN "VISUAL POETRY PIXEL SERIES #696" 2021 KwonHyunjin' on the reverse mixed media on canvas 165.5 x 136.8 cm. (65 1/8 x 53 7/8 in.) Executed in 2021.