Gallery SP presents a group exhibition 《CRUSH ZONE》, on view through June 7, featuring works by artists Eunsaem Ahn, Donghoon Rhee, and Chang Kon Lim.

The three artists have consistently explored the challenge of capturing motion within the fixed mediums of painting and sculpture. Rather than relying on time-based media like video, they render moving beings by hand—sculpting and painting them—to create multilayered representations of time within still formats.

The exhibition investigates the tension and energy that arise when these varied movements and trajectories collide. The title, “CRUSH ZONE,” combines the ideas of “crush”—to compress or shatter within a confined space—and “zone,” suggesting an area or field. It serves as a metaphor for the dynamic and multifaceted space created by the intersection of the three artists’ distinct practices and materials.

Chang Kon Lim projects muscular and visceral motions onto sculpted and painted portraits; Donghoon Rhee extrapolates sculptural and painterly forms by scrutinizing the gestures of humans, flora, and fauna; and Eunsaem Ahn transposes trajectories observed in both foreground and background into geometric configurations. These artists employ imagination and tools to measure fleeting movements, relying on bodily sensations to manifest them within the compressed spatiotemporal context of their media and exhibitions.

Amidst contemporary media that directly project continuous time, the artists' adherence to painterly and sculptural "dynamism" manifests as a countercurrent to rapid industrialization. Originally, "dynamism" referred to the early 20th-century Futurist art movement that celebrated technological advancement and industrial progress, often at the expense of historical legacies.

While superficially similar, the participating artists diverge by incorporating nonlinear temporal perspectives and relational approaches. Whereas modernist dynamism pursued swift advancement toward a novel future, 《CRUSH ZONE》 illuminates the disrupted landscapes and marginalized existences resulting from such progress.

Contrary to Futurism's emphasis on mechanical propulsion, the dynamism here centers on the gestures of breathing beings and the overlooked activities of life amidst rapid change. Grounded in this perspective, 《CRUSH ZONE》 is unveiled as a field of impetus toward the other, the object, and nature—a counterpoint to the objectifying subjectivity perpetuated by ongoing industrialization since modernity.

Participating Artists: Eunsaem Ahn, Donghoon Rhee, Chang Kon Lim

“CRUSH ZONE”
2025.05.08 - 2025.06.07
Tue-Sat 10:00 am – 6:00 pm
Gallery SP
30, Hoenamu-ro 44ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea