“PIBI+ : Unnamed Void” Installation view at PIBI Gallery, 2023 ©Aproject Company“PIBI+: Unnamed Void” is on view at PIBI Gallery until May 20. ‘PIBI+’ was first launched in 2018 to introduce artists working in various media to the public. This exhibition, the first in five years, aims to showcase a cross-section of contemporary Korean painting through three artists whose main medium is ‘Painting’.
An Joongkyung (b.1972), Eom Yujeong (b.1985), and Kwon Bichsaem (b.1988), who participate in the exhibition, use the most familiar objects in art: painting and the flat surface. Through these, they present recent works that project the artist’s inner self onto portraits and landscapes.
‘Stain’ is an important element in An’s work. The stains seep in and out of the objects, merging with their surrounding existence and condition. These works are seemingly smeared and intertwined but ultimately become one. For the artist, ‘stain’ is a technique, a trace, and a medium for harmonizing backgrounds and figures, and through it, she presents new works that harmonize landscapes and figures.
In contrast to her botanical paintings, in which complex ‘nature’ is vaguely simplified to appear peaceful, Eom presents her portrait drawings, in which ‘humans’ with various emotions are concisely expressed with only a few lines. Plant paintings condense numerous lines and show various landscapes through changes in brush speed, thickness, and texture. On the other hand, the extremely simple portrait drawings are colorless and expressionless, but through changes in the eyes and posture, we can feel various emotions and thoughts through the work.
Kwon creates space by contrasting landscapes and figures with darkness and light, showing the life force inherent in existence. In the darkness of life, the artist encounters and relates to the world and looks outward. The owls and telescopes in works are related to the act of seeing. It can be seen as a manifestation of the unconscious that seeks to reach the essence and enrich the world through an act of seeing.
