Installation view of 《Wavering Dawn》 © P21
P21 presents a solo exhibition 《Wavering Dawn》, by artist Keem
Jiyoung, on view through December 12.
This exhibition brings together 35 works,
including nine new paintings from the ‘Blue Glow’ series (2025–2026), 22
related drawings, a digital print, and works in paraffin wax.
Installation view of 《Wavering Dawn》 © P21
From her early ‘Blue’ Series (2016–2018),
which addressed tragic events in modern and contemporary Korean history, to ‘Glowing
Hour’ (2020–present), which explores the finitude of life through fire and
candlelight, the exhibition reveals how Keem's longstanding reflections on
life, death, and time have developed into a new painterly language.
Keem observes the blue flames of candles as
they burn, flicker, and gradually fade, translating their forms and movements
onto canvas. For the artist, candles evoke the passage of time and the
finiteness of life. While ‘Glowing Hour’ conveyed a sense of fire, heat, and
vitality, her new paintings use the wavering, unsettling qualities of blue to
confront death more directly.
Installation view of 《Wavering Dawn》 © P21
Independent curator Heeseung Choi, who wrote
the exhibition essay, emphasizes that the blue light in Keem's work is not a
distant or conceptual color, but one that exists close to the reality of our
lives and everyday experiences. Keem's blue glow is “an underlying light,
neither opulent nor terrifying, and neither ambiguous nor pretentious.”
By observing the disappearing flame over an
extended period and accumulating its traces on the canvas, the artist invites
us to confront anew the sensations of life that we so easily overlook because
of their familiarity. Through this sustained observation of light and color, 《Wavering Dawn》 quietly yet persistently reveals the depth of time in which life
and death meet.
