Poster image of 《No Mercy, No Fear》 © Gallery White Block

One’s perception of reality is reflected directly in art. Artists possess finely tuned senses and tend to devote themselves almost obsessively to expressing what they perceive. Moreover, conventional experiments and materials alone are often insufficient to reflect or comprehend the rapidly changing and increasingly complex contemporary world.

Perhaps for this reason, recent works by artists reveal endlessly layered perspectives and emotions. This is not simply a matter of employing a wide variety of techniques on canvas. The multiplicity of messages embedded within the works and the fragmentation of meanings that exist beyond their visible expressions accurately reflect the ceaseless tensions of the present.

Thus, we speak of the “near future” that may be inferred from their works, and of the emotional “consolation” that is so difficult to find at its margins.


Beom Jinyong, Dream Diary Recording, 2012, Acrylic on paper, 23 x 3600 cm © Beom Jinyong

The 23 participating artists range in age from their twenties to their forties, encompassing more than one generation, from emerging to younger established artists. Although their primary media vary—from painting and installation to photography—their perspectives and emotional responses to the present are not fundamentally different.

This is because the external world, as perceived through each artist’s inner sensibility, invariably contains elements of conflict. What colors define the “present” as these artists perceive it, and in what ways do they envision “haewon” (解寃), the release or resolution of accumulated grievances and sorrow? Through their finely attuned sensibilities, this exhibition seeks to trace these questions.

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