On Paper

What appears on paper is not limited to images. Paper is highly responsive to its environment and to the forces applied to it, its surface and form changing accordingly. As it absorbs water and dries, it deforms unevenly; it can also be crumpled or torn. Once something happens to paper, it is difficult to return it to its original state. Yet the traces left behind do not necessarily remain unchanged. They can be drawn over, erased, or joined with other pieces. Earlier marks may be covered, blurred, or transformed, at times becoming part of the work itself. Even today, as the ways of making and working with images continue to diversify, paper remains an important material for artists. Perhaps the reason lies in these material qualities.

In this exhibition, seven artists approach paper in their own ways. Doh Hyunhee repeatedly applies color to hanji and washes it away. Through the traces that emerge from this process, she explores how time is individually experienced and remembered. Son Seungbeom brings weeds, stones, and other subjects often regarded as insignificant in everyday life to the center of his compositions. By repeatedly building up layers of ink, he leaves on the surface both his sustained attention to the subject and the time invested in the work. Jang Seungkeun uses paper to ease the pressure he associates with painting, allowing unrefined sensations such as hesitation and anxiety to register directly in his brushwork. Gestures that build recognizable forms overlap with impulses that disrupt them, moving between figuration and abstraction.

The process of making paper itself can also become part of the work. Im Sun Goo draws scenes from his own memories and the stories of those around him in graphite, then tears them apart and joins them back together. Images originating from different times and places misalign and, at times, interlock within a single picture, forming new relationships and narratives. Key Minjung brings together hwaseonji, a traditional paper long used in painting, and stainless steel, a material widely used in contemporary architecture and industry. She cuts away the empty areas of the hwaseonji to create openings, allowing materials with different properties to appear together without losing their distinct qualities. Moon Mean creates surfaces evocative of the passage of time using paper he makes himself from dak pulp and metallic tempera. By juxtaposing collected images and texts, he explores time and the ways in which it is perceived. Images that begin on paper may also extend into other media. Lee Seung Ae creates images based on rubbings taken from natural objects and everyday objects imbued with personal memories, alongside graphite drawings. Through traces transferred from the surfaces of objects and the material qualities of graphite, she gives form to invisible sensations and vitality, extending her practice across painting, mural-based installation, and stop-motion animation.

This exhibition considers the actions and transformations that take place on paper, as well as the images that are created and left behind through these processes.