Images Settled on the Retina of Painting

A single water droplet settled across a smooth surface. On a delicately rendered thin membrane, an illusion of light gently pools. Seong Joon Hong (37) has maintained a sustained interest in the materiality of flat painting. Extending from contemporary concerns with materiality, his attitude explores the identity of painting— a classical medium of expression— in his own way. Conscious of the physical strata of images layered upon the canvas, the artist carefully calibrates the volume and texture of paint, as well as the scale of brush and surface. As such, what his paintings sometimes present prior to visual illusion is the latent potential of the medium and materials themselves.

The 'Study Layers 90–93' series (2024), created by delicately layering near-transparent films of paint, simultaneously stages an illusion of depth and unfolds as a conceptual diagram that dramatically dismantles the physical structure of painted images.

The 'Layers of the Air' series depicts forms of water droplets, each varying in scale. The motif originates from a photograph taken around 2020, in which a clear soap bubble was accidentally captured against the sky. Considered an apt subject for revealing layers of images that are visually and psychologically superimposed, the artist has continuously employed this motif. The typographic titles of the works point to the air inside and outside the swollen membrane, extending the viewer’s attention beyond the droplet toward the phenomenal world itself.

Ultimately, what the surface indicates is neither air nor water, but the phenomenon generated by them. Rainbow fragments shimmer around the transparent membrane floating midair, enclosing air within. Across a fine boundary, the world briefly divides into two zones— inside and outside the shell, what is registered on the retina and what is not.

Seong Joon Hong persistently explores the meaning and method of translating the visible world into painting. Grounded in questions about both visual experience and the medium of painting, he continues his own experimental practice. Touch the Sky(2024), in which dawn and night-sky hues are painted onto core plywood cut along the traces of brushstrokes, reveals a tactile sense of volume. The marks of paint carried by the brush expand into large, solid planes that seem to float within the exhibition space. Fluorescent pigment applied to the rear surface meets the wall with a stepped offset, diffusing softly like a sunset glow. This staging results from an attempt to fix ever-changing sky colors within a static frame.

Seong Joon Hong is a painter based in Seoul, having graduated from the Department of Painting and its graduate program at Hongik University. He has held solo exhibitions at F&Art Space (2014, Seoul), 63 Art (2018, Seoul), LÆN Gallery (2019, Seoul), Hakgojae Design Project Space (2020, Seoul), PIPE Gallery (2022, Seoul), Gallery BHAK (2022, Seoul), and Prompt Project (2023, Seoul). He has also participated in group exhibitions organized by institutions including Cheongju Museum of Art at Daecheongho, Mimesis Art Museum, and the Sam Museum of Seoul National University of Education, among others. Last year, he participated in the “68 Project” residency at Kornfeld Gallery in Berlin.

Seong Joon Hong · Philipp Rösch Two-Person Exhibition 《Flip Over》

Art mediates diverse relationships both within and beyond itself. As the material properties of a medium and the illusion of the image form an intimate relationship, the hand that paints and the gaze that observes continuously meet and separate. Each moment in which the artist’s and viewer’s fields of vision overlap, the narrative is rewritten. The driving force that weaves the event of an exhibition also arises from this dialogic time surrounding the artworks.

Seong Joon Hong is participating in the two-person exhibition 《Flip Over》 at The Weekend Room, a gallery located in Hannam-dong and directed by Nahyung Kim. The exhibition is presented together with German artist Philipp Rösch (44). Curated by Jihyung Park, the exhibition brings together the artistic worlds of two artists who have developed their practices through different media and techniques, overlaying them within a single space.

While Seong Joon Hong focuses on the smooth surfaces of images painted on flat canvases, Philipp Rösch meticulously renders images and texts excerpted from art history books spanning classical to contemporary periods onto weighty supports such as stone and books. Through the act of drawing, text is converted into image. Contexts embedded in individual pages are dismantled, and letters become drawings. Seong Joon Hong reorders the visible world through the materiality of painting, while Philipp Rösch summons fragments of history written in language into the present time-space, reconstituting them as intuitive images.

Knowledge and sensibilities cultivated within each artist’s cultural context encounter one another within a single space, generating a new and distinctive rhythm. The meeting of the two artists—each based respectively in Seoul and Berlin—was facilitated by The Weekend Room. Founded in 2015, The Weekend Room is a commercial gallery that has played a mediating role throughout the process of sharing artistic worlds, referencing attitudes, and preparing the exhibition. In 2021, the gallery relocated to its current site in Hannam-dong, restructuring both its exhibition space and institutional identity.


 
The Expansion of Closely Knitted Relationships: Toward a Larger World

Nahyung Kim (45), director of The Weekend Room, has devoted years to connecting promising Korean artists with international art scenes. Curator Jihyung Park (34), who joined in 2021, supports her across planning and sales operations. Park graduated from the Departments of Painting and Art Studies at Hongik University, earned an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leeds and an MA in Art History from the Courtauld Institute of Art in the UK, and completed doctoral coursework in Art Studies at Hongik University.

She previously worked at the Gwangju Biennale (2015–2017) and Perigee Gallery (2017–2019), and as an independent curator has presented numerous exhibitions, including 《Closing Transparency and Opening Darkness》(2018, Gangnam Apartments, Jowon-dong), 《Far and Far Away》(2021, Onsu Space), and 《Choi Sooang: Pluribus》(2022, Gallery SP).

The collaborative relationship between Kim and Park is notably distinct from a typical director–staff dynamic. They communicate candidly, exchange opinions horizontally, and move together toward shared goals. This mode of communication extends to their relationships with artists as well. While striving to maintain the gallery’s distinct identity, they emphasize a sincere and multifaceted understanding of each artist’s practice. In this way, they seek to expand their closely woven network of relationships and make a leap toward a broader world.

According to Kim, “Over the past two years, we have built collaborative relationships with institutions and artists across Asia— including China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan— as well as in Germany, the UK, Israel, and the United States.” She continues, “For us, who believe that exhibition planning must simultaneously support artists’ growth alongside sales, curated exhibitions offer an excellent opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities.”

The Weekend Room primarily focuses on artists in their twenties and thirties. The intention is to accompany them through the process of strengthening their capacities as artists and solidifying the foundations of their artistic worlds, growing together along the way. In the relatively high-risk context of entering overseas markets—where substantial budgets and efforts are required—focusing on artists in formative stages demands a mutual sincerity, affection, and trust.

At the end of this month, The Weekend Room will present a group exhibition of represented artists including Chaewon Lee, Seoul Kim, and Jihui Kim in Kyoto. In February, works by Jinhee Kim will be exhibited in a group show in Berlin. In May, a two-person exhibition featuring Jinhee Kim and Jiwon Choi is planned in Shanghai, followed by a solo exhibition by Jina Park in Berlin in October. Throughout the year in Korea, the gallery is also preparing a solo exhibition by British artist Adam Boyd, a solo exhibition by a Middle Eastern artist, and group exhibitions featuring artists from Korea, Germany, and the United States.

References

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