Installation view of 《My heavy fluffy arms》 ©NOON CONTEMPORARY
NOON
CONTEMPORARY presents a solo exhibition 《My heavy
fluffy arms》 by artist Song Seungeun, on view through
December 28.
The
elements within Song Seungeun’s works are arranged not to depict a specific
narrative, but in a manner where fragments of different times and sensations
naturally overlap. Pieces of old paintings, scenes from novels, fragments of
animation, and traces of personal memories are loosely woven together to form a
single scene; yet this scene does not move toward any definitive conclusion.
Installation view of 《My heavy fluffy arms》 ©NOON CONTEMPORARY
Rather
than attempting to fix forms, the artist explores the density of vibrations
created as they linger and pass by. To capture these traces, she collects
fragments of images across multiple layers and delicately combines them into a
collage. This collage, as a temporarily fixed plane, still remains in a
“flattened state.”
Instead
of transferring it directly onto canvas, the artist reconstructs the scene in
charcoal, slowly tracing the structure and density of the light hidden within.
Through this process, the previously flat images gain depth, and the boundaries
where darkness seeps in and light pushes forward interlock, beginning to
breathe again.
Song
Seungeun then builds oil paint layers on top of the charcoal work. Color is
treated not as a means to fill the canvas, but as a language that reinterprets
the traces of sensation left by light. The thickness of the paint, the texture
of wiping and scraping, and the direction of brushstrokes form layers, giving
the surface a dense, skin-like texture.
In doing
so, the artist carefully ensures that the color does not advance on its own or
overwhelm the senses, orchestrating a delicate coexistence between color and
light that maintains a subtle, thin breath.
Installation view of 《My heavy fluffy arms》 ©NOON CONTEMPORARY
In her recent works, she further expands the ways she handles
materials. The texture of brushstrokes, the translucent traces left by rubbing
with fabric, and the marks created by scratching are layered onto the surface
with varying sensory thicknesses.
These surface traces do not function as mere gestures but as
rhythms of sensation. In the subtle vibrations generated as planes and lines,
textures and negative spaces intermingle, the surface remains calm yet
ceaselessly moves, slowly sinking and rising again.
Her exhibition 《My heavy fluffy arms》 records this painterly
vibration. The movement of sensation pressing down and then rising, the speed
of the hand moving from one scene to another, and the delicate tremors left in
between accumulate layer upon layer on the surface.
In this way, Song Seungeun’s painting always lingers in that
in-between space. It does not reach a complete form, yet it is fully present in
its incompleteness. That weight does not sink; quietly but firmly, it pushes
the surface upward.
