Exhibition Information

			Playful Whim PART.2 presents the process by which a small courage and a gentle gaze—born from playful spontaneity—develop into an attitude of understanding and embracing one another. Masks and thorns, courage and love, wounds and hope interlock like the facets of a cube, generating a renewed narrative. As distinct fragments converge to form a single structure, the exhibition visualizes a landscape of relationships that grow together through difference. Conceived as the second chapter following last year’s Playful Whim, it further expands the emotional currents shaped within the individual and through relationships.



Park Seyeon explores selfhood, emotion, and growth through the motif of the mask. In her work, the mask is another self chosen to navigate reality, while also serving as a protective layer that safeguards the inner being. Confronting the mask becomes a process of understanding oneself. Through the act of wearing and removing it, the work suggests that regardless of outward appearance, an unchanging self remains beneath. The characters in her compositions are not fixed or complete; rather, they resemble ourselves in the midst of becoming. Emerging from memories and emotions rooted in childhood, they project the artist’s inner world and convey the courage to move forward—adorable yet assured—even while carrying wounds and anxieties within lived reality. The characters in the Mask and Animal series appear like heroes, declaring “I am brave,” and standing as presences that encourage one another.



Hwang Seunghyun investigates the essence of relationships and love through the motif of the thorn. In his work, the cactus symbolizes a friend, a family member, and at times the self. Just as each person bears different thorns, every individual lives bearing singular wounds and dispositions. The artist begins from the gesture of embracing another. Love may appear warm, yet it inevitably entails moments of being pricked by one another’s thorns. Nevertheless, through the choice to embrace, he unfolds the sincerity of relationships with a warm and attentive gaze. By invoking the desert as a metaphorical space, the work portrays a world in which beings marked by different thorns coexist. The material of paper—embodying both softness and sharpness—mirrors the dual nature of the human condition. His cactus declares, “It may sting, but it’s okay.” In doing so, the artist conveys the courage to embrace difference and the meaning of love.



Playful Whim PART.2 stands as a record of emotions the two artists have continued to build and as a narrative of the relationships they have constructed together. The exhibition invites viewers to reflect upon their own emotions and rhythms, and to encounter the small courage discovered within relationships. What began in play remains as a warm consolation and a steadfast strength in contemporary life.