Installation view of 《Seize the Moment》 (Noblesse Collection, 2023) © Noblesse Collection

From October 13th to November 10th Noblesse Collection is hosting 〈Seize the Moment〉, an exhibition showcasing 4 young artists. Park Junghae collects visual symbols seen in lines and surfaces, Lee Mijung observes the interests of today’s people, Jeong Yiji records ordinary scenes in her paintings, and Choi Yoonhee focuses on her internal senses. Four artists talk about their observations of subjects that draw them in through keywords like ‘moment,’ ‘capture,’ and ‘observation.’


 
Park Junghae

Abstraction is maximized within the tides of thought. Park Junghae collects visual symbols within the lines and shapes of objects to create geometric paintings. Working with light as her main subject, Park visualizes the shape of light within time and space through a ballot or paints the shape of light changing with the weather. While she worked with the warm tones of the afternoon light before, the artist has begun working with the deep, blueish light found out at sea, at night or in space. In Park’s work you can always find objects made with ribbons or paper, which work as mediums to hold the light. Paper models created from everyday objects each hold a different light, and through the composition created by the artist a new world is created on the canvas. In this exhibition we can infer the artist’s recent inspirations by the titles of her work; ‘Anonym’ referencing the many classical music with ‘anonymous’ creators, ‘Lighthouse Keeper,’ or ‘My Captain’ referring to the light particles and motion found out at sea.


 
Lee Mijung

Lee Mijung carefully observes the lives of people of our era, makes objects from those observations to create play-like sceneries. She found interest in how people create trends that in turn create similar, shared appearances; Lee’s work has focused on studying the universal values that change with the decades. In this day, internet has granted access to countless well organized homes that show a person’s tastes while successfully hiding the chaotic work needed to create that image or look. Observing this phenomenon, the artist became interested in domestic housework, also known as ‘shadow work.’ Her series ‘The Shadow Effect,’ borrows the fantastical element from the Disney animation 〈Cinderella〉 to express the fantasy of things getting done with the absence of the process. The dark shadowy hands that act like the magical wand, the pink garment, glittery white foam-like images of light; Lee’s work expresses the everyday through animation-like effects to create magical fantasies we meet in everyday life.

Installation view of 《Seize the Moment》 (Noblesse Collection, 2023) © Noblesse Collection


Jeong Yiji

Some fleeting moments are burned into one’s memories like a slow-motion movie clip. Jeong has worked with moments like these; moments you don’t want to forget, moments you want to hold on to. Scenes that remind you of a close-up shot in a movie or a snap-shot photograph evoke the artist’s signature sluggish, cozy sensibility. Conversations while looking into each other’s eyes, or the act of observing someone’s behavior are Jeong’s way of understanding the world. She captures the emotions shared with others, and romantic objects on her canvas. The brush strokes that encapsulates the warmth and colors of a particular day or the small expressions of a person shows us the artist’s affection towards the world she observes. The eyes captured in ‘Eternal Yesterday(영원한 어제)’ shows the minute tensions that exist within an interaction, and acts as an important element within the work. It creates curiosity for the moments experienced by the artist and maximizes the sense of immersion for the viewers. Facing Jeong’s works at the gallery, the audience will be taken back to the slow-motion memories of their own pasts, coming face to face with moments they hadn’t found before.


 
Choi Yoonhee

Choi Yoonhee creates the changes of emotions and sense she experiences in her daily life. Studying time in relation to invisible subjects, the artist paints her experience of invisible elements such as air, wind, and light. Having worked with a type of landscape influenced by outward forces, the artist has begun focusing on her internal landscape as of late. While not visible to the eye, emotions built up within oneself leaves scar-like marks. The artist has worked on bringing these marks to the surface to carefully examine them. The elaborate lines painted on top of semitransparent and dark surfaces resemble a skein or the sensations of blood vessels. Choi works by rubbing the paint with her hands, leaving turbid marks, creating an abstraction of colors and shapes that come out of the artist’s body and gets pushed into the surface of her work. The idea that invisible emotions exist within the body somewhere subtly stimulates our senses.

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