Showtime, 2022
Oil on canvas, 70 x 95 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Jaehong Ahn
Sensation is perhaps the driving force behind Jaehong Ahn's creational process. The inception of his paintings is solely guided by the artist's physical movements. Through automatic painting, Ahn creates abstractions only to then move to figuration. His intuitive motions on the canvas turn into wondrous and sometimes bizarre landscapes. The foreign species and odd landmarks change and undergo continuous metamorphoses, disorientating the observer. Theatrical elements such as stages and curtains, as well as the steadily transforming subjects, remind us that these scenes are carefully constructed imagination and separate themselves from our known visual vocabulary. The contenders who enter this world of tension are often separated and linger, unable to overcome the divide. The theme of separation weaves itself throughout all of Jaehong Ahn's paintings. Nevertheless, there is always a strong sense of balance. The artworks enter a game of severed and yet balanced conversation, of emerging and being separated. The artist, the canvas, and the viewer are divided forces that isolate and conceal and nevertheless come together in an aspiration for unity.
Selected Artworks
Gallivanter’s Cellar, 2019
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
The Love of Echo, 2017
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 25 x 34 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
The Suit, 2019
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Jill, 2019
Oil on canvas, 30 x 24 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
The Seamster, 2019
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 30 x 25 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Up and at ‘em, 2019
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 24 x 30 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Sanctum Sanctorum, 2019
Oil on canvas, 140 x 170 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Border On, 2019
Oil and acrylic on canvas, 73 x 91 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Get Us Home, 2019
Oil on canvas, 80 x 100 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
The River, 2018
Oil on canvas, 260 x 120 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
It Did Not Fall, 2018
Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
The News, 2013
Oil on canvas, 60 x 73 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Drain, 2014
Oil on canvas, 55 x 60 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Solitary Walk, 2014,
Oil on canvas, 24 x 30 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Di Domenica, 2014,
Oil on canvas, 55 x 60 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary
Junction, 2014,
Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm, courtesy Kang Contemporary