Imposing Scenery: Hyunho Lee, Changhwan Chun

The expressive range of paintings of the present day has expanded tremendously. In the past, they mostly stayed within a simple scope of landscapes, figures, and still life. Now, though, the range of expression in paintings has expanded to include the figurative and the abstract. Paintings are demonstrating boundless possibilities, from works that exist as images to those that include content of abstract or complex nature. Through the works of Lee Hyun Ho and Chun Chang Hwan, this exhibition endeavors to provide an opportunity to reflect upon the expanding roles and possibilities of today’s paintings.

Lee Hyun Ho aptly displays common spaces that are easily overlooked in our daily lives. In his works you are likely to see a park’s flowerbed, the scenery outside a window, and bushes growing on a riverbank. In addition, the artist totally transfers his point of view towards a particular scene onto his work. For him, the act of viewing the scenery and tenaciously expressing it is an important way of describing the subject. It appears that he wants to talk about our perspectives toward these subjects rather than the diverse formats or techniques for expressing them.

Chun Chang Hwan also presents objects around us that are often neglected. His works capture sceneries such as the view from under the Hangang Bridge and the ventilation shaft on an apartment rooftop. These subjects may seem rather dull as they are common scenes that can be seen in any neighborhood. But the artist expresses complex emotions that he experienced while looking at these spaces, which come as feelings of emptiness at times and of comfort at other times, through the physical properties of his paints and brush strokes. Chun’s works are combinations of different emotions, and it is difficult to describe them with merely a few words. Since his works are difficult to describe linguistically, perhaps it is best to understand them directly through the impressions provided by the images.

The similarity of the two artists' works is found in the daily sceneries. However, depending on the expressive methods and the point of view towards the subject, such sceneries can become “imposing sceneries” that contain different emotions and thoughts. It is expected that this exhibition will provide an opportunity to discover the differences in each work, the role of paintings in between, and the messages that the artists wish to convey.