For, Hyon gyon, art is mainly about awakening emotions, transforming your energy and that of your viewers into fierce paintings that hide vivid emotions underneath the surface.
Born on June 16, 1979 in South Korea, the young artist earned her bachelor's degree in western painting from the Mokwon University in his native country, although after seeing the growth that awaited him outside his land, he moved to Japan where it remained for nine years.
Hyon with his work Nobody cares about your misery, 2018. Source: Ian Moon Studio | Elephant Art.
After this time, Hyon gyon moved to the city of NY in 2013 and began his indefinite residency, with the support of Shin Gallery, Residences Unlimited y Pioneer Works.
With this change in the environment, his practice and method were radically evolving, transforming his approach into one guided by more images. abstract and intuitive.
Since then, the painter's private emotions have been the main protagonists of works that explode like sparks.
And it is that, by incorporating varied materials such as traditional Korean fabrics, foam, spray paint, found objects, gold leaf, encaustic and hair, Hyon's work has been making its way through his references to shamanism Korean, a set of indigenous practices in which intercessors mediate between gods and human beings, which has given it a distinctive image within the guild.
In some parts of their canvases, the paint is pushed emphatically and allowed to dry in large, fleshy lumps; in others, it is carefully depicted in images of spirits, monsters, icons of the pop culture and human hair.
Through his own words, the realization of his large-scale and often chaotic paintings, now exhibited in institutions such as the Kyoto museum, that of Tokyo Contemporary Art, Brooklyn museum, as well as the Asian Art Museum. as San FranciscoThey are a way of expressing your "anger and negative emotions and just letting go".
While the artworks of Hyon gyon may be terrifying at first, the South Korean artist insists it's all about acting.
The Boy Named Her Oracle, 2018. Source: Konrad zarebski
Currently, the conditioned abstraction that Hyon chose has her exploring and experimenting with new ways of expanding her practice: videos and various painting mediums, allowing the city to impress on her through her textures and surfaces.
Regarding the reflection of her paintings, the same artist has stated:
It is not always my direct intention to include aspects of my personal life in my paintings, but living as a human being, a daughter, an artist, a hybrid of figures, I believe that the feelings I get from living my life are both intensely private and intensely universal at the same time.
