Installation view of 《Residence on Earth》. © CAN Foundation
MO BY CAN, operated by CAN Foundation, presents 《Residence on Earth》, a solo exhibition by Eunhee Jeon, on view
through June 26.
In this exhibition, the artist presents approximately twenty
works that reflect the dilemmas and concerns of an artist confronting
contemporary realities shaped by both large- and small-scale disasters,
including war and climate change.
Jeon has long been interested in places and landscapes shaped by
human activity, as well as the stories that surround them.
In recent years, her perspective has expanded to encompass
broader historical and global contexts, addressing crises ranging from refugees
displaced by international conflicts and cities reduced to ruins by bombardment
to animals and plants that have lost their habitats as a result of
environmental destruction.
Through these works, the artist calls attention to the
consequences of relentless human greed and the indifference of a world that too
often turns away from suffering as though it were someone else’s concern.
Installation view of 《Residence on Earth》. © CAN Foundation
The exhibition title, 《Residence on Earth》, is inspired by the
poetry collection of the same name by Pablo Neruda. While Neruda used the word
“residence” in the sense of a place of dwelling, Jeon expands its meaning to
include not only where one lives, but also where one has been and where one is
destined to go.
Every life rooted on this earth is valuable. Yet when the very
ground that sustains life is destroyed, where are people to go? Having endured
wars of the past and conflicts of the present, what has humanity lost, and what
lessons has it learned?
The works in this exhibition seek answers to these questions by
traversing past and future alike. Through this body of work, the artist
reflects on the course of human history while also posing a broader question
about the future: “Where are we heading tomorrow?” In doing so, she invites
viewers to contemplate the direction in which history continues to unfold.
Installation view of 《Residence on Earth》. © CAN Foundation
From a technical perspective, Jeon juxtaposes the rough texture
of charcoal with the subtle diffusion of diluted ink and color washes, layering
contrasts between the solid and the fragile, the enduring and the ephemeral,
the material and the immaterial.
Through these accumulated strata, she boldly articulates the
world’s complex and multifaceted nature. The works reveal the artist’s
sustained effort to bring content and form into close alignment.
While grounded in the techniques of Korean painting, Jeon
expands its possibilities through the incorporation of materials such as
charcoal. Unlike traditional landscape painting, her work responds sensitively
to contemporary social issues and engages them directly through visual
expression.
As such, her practice offers a noteworthy attempt to rethink the
contemporary terrain of Korean painting and its capacity to address the
realities of the present.
