Exhibition Information

Exhibition view

(Source = Duson Gallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = Duson Gallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = Duson Gallery)

Exhibition view

(Source = Duson Gallery)

			Duson Gallery is presenting a solo exhibition by two artists, showcasing the works of artist Choi Gene Uk, a well-known artist who has expanded his free-spirited formative style with his own ideology of “emotional realism” and artist Lee Hyeok, who is forming a new pictorial discourse by breaking away from North Korea’s ideology and representational art.This exhibition introduces the works of two artists who are both homogeneous and heterogeneous, identifies the points of overlap between the two pieces, and sheds light on the definition of figurative painting and the relationship between artists who experiment with various painting techniques. With regard to contemporary Korean art, we hope to offer a chance to look at aspects of painting that go beyond the binary opposition of figuration and abstraction.

Choi Gene Uk has described his work as “emotional realism” and has established his own unique realism. For Choi Gene Uk, a good painting is a painting that does not have a hierarchy regarding the world and life. In other words, in a relationship where the artist and the subject have equal power, a strong image of the subject is captured in a specific form through observation. In addition, he expresses his ideology of expanding perception of time, space and the world by capturing everyday moments around the artist as “pictorial events” and visualizing reflection on the drawing process itself.

Artist Lee Hyeok was born in North Korea and moved to South Korea in 2009. Lee Hyeok erases the realistic image reproduction techniques he has acquired and through the repetitive act of scratching, crushing, and wiping paint, he is forming a new sense of heterogeneity, loss, longing, and identity he felt through his own methodology. He reconciled the wounds and emotions he experienced throughout his life with beautiful images in his works. Lee Hyeok overcomes his confused inner self through his creative actions, and reality and seeks the question of what absolute truth is in his works.

(Source = Duson Gallery)