Contemplation of Cities_ curated by MyungHoon Kim
Myung-Su Ham explores brush strokes and colours, seeking constant reflection on the origin of painting. The artist reinterprets the feelings and impressions of various subject matters ranging from everyday objects to urban landscapes and expresses them with his characteristic brushwork. This solo show examines Ham’s urban landscapes from around 2010.
Continuing to draw lines, which recall the soft textures of wool, grass, or noodles, with a thin brush, the artist portrays the area surrounding his studio in a city full of the atmosphere of petit bourgeois’ life. Some of his paintings depict gloomy desolate landscapes of redeveloping apartment blocks with thin lines reminiscent of rainwater running down. His brushwork has become bolder and wilder in recent works since 2013. The artist’s brush strokes act as metaphors for life in Manhattan in New York where dreams, desires and ambitions become entangled.
What we should not miss here is that the artist always views cities from a bird’s eye view. A view from above and from a distance allows less psychological pressure and richer emotional expression. It helps the artist deepen his contemplation of the urban landscape. Hence, what we encounter, in a formal uncanny distortion, is the face of a city observed by Myung-Su Ham and the face of a city, which is also an inner face of the artist himself as well as his reflection on the origin of painting. I hope this exhibition gives audiences a chance to feel the artist’s honest gaze of the world examined through energetic brushwork and colours.
