Hyunsun Jeon’s paintings resemble fairy tale books with no text. Within them, exotic spaces and unfamiliar past times tumble about in a state of indefinable vagueness. These works are populated with grandmothers, girls, wolves, rabbits, wild boars—scenes filled with ambiguous incidents unfolding between humans and animals. The characters living in the time-space of a fairy tale continuously send and receive unspoken messages, forging their roles through mutual exchange.
 
"Who is the protagonist and who is the supporting character?"


Hyunsun Jeon, The Last Walk 2012, watercolor on canvas, 100 x 100 cm ©Next Door Gallery

It is the viewers themselves who fill in the empty speech bubbles between imaginary characters, casting the protagonists and supporting roles, and bringing vague events into specificity. Whether on the table between the wolf and the grandmother, on drifting clouds like pebbles, or atop dense foliage, Jeon’s speech bubbles await the audience. They invite viewers to awaken dormant childhood memories and fill those bubbles with their own stories.

Hyunsun Jeon, A Secret Meeting, 2011, watercolor on canvas, 90×90cm ©Neolook

As suggested in the exhibition subtitle 《Road to Endless Opposites》, the texts viewers fill into these speech bubbles are all different. They diverge endlessly, clash, and meander restlessly into a nomadic space. Her "adult fairy tales," in a state of undefined transition, become a poignant plea not to abandon hope and a gesture of shared empathy for memories of despair and pain.

Jeon’s paintings are fairy tales that metaphorically reflect the adult world—full of conflict and tension, plots and conspiracies, betrayal and revenge, violence and cruelty. Consider this: if traditional children’s fairy tales are typified by moral lessons and happy endings for the sake of education and enlightenment, then the open-endedness of evil is characteristic of fairy tales for adults. Such tales invite us into a world of rich imagination detached from the reality we know.

Hyunsun Jeon, A Night with Particularly Bright Stars, 2011, watercolor on canvas, 80.3 x 65.0 cm ©Next Door Gallery

Let’s examine the work.

A large wolf lies dead with its belly split open, and around it stand a grandmother—who might be a queen—and a girl resembling a princess, both with unreadable expressions. The title A Gratifying Ending reveals the emotional dimension hidden behind those ambiguous expressions. This event, unfolding in an unreal world, is captured like a cinematic sequence, naturally prompting viewers to imagine its narrative. Although the scene reaches what the artist calls a "gratifying ending," it also hints at the beginning of another episode.

Hyunsun Jeon, A Gratifying Ending, 2011, watercolor on canvas, 72.7x 91cm ©Neolook

Jeon’s use of watercolor on canvas enhances the unfolding of such narrative sequences. The thin layers of pigment formed through evaporation and self-polymerization of watercolor always allow for reactivation upon contact with water, permitting the penetration of new materials.

Hyunsun Jeon, A White Night,  2011, acrylic on canvas, 116.8 x 91.0 cm ©Next Door Gallery

And what about the wolf walking upright behind the girl who seems to be fleeing? Is it an anthropomorphized wolf? A human wearing a wolf’s skin? Or neither?

Hyunsun Jeon, Untitled, 2012, watercolor on canvas, 80.3 x 65.0 cm ©Neolook
Hyunsun Jeon, Someone Was Heard to Run out of the Forests, 2011, watercolor on canvas, 145.5 x 112.0 cm ©Next Door Gallery

In Jeon’s work, anthropomorphized animals appear like personae from a non-realistic realm—extensions or alter egos of the human self. As the term "persona" originally means a mask, these animal figures become personified conversational partners and fragmented identities of a single subject. They are non-human entities rendered with human attributes. In this way, anthropomorphized animals serve as interfaces connecting the real and imaginary realms within her "adult fairy tales," and they become co-protagonists inviting viewers into the scene.

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