Writing and photographs by Sarah Malmude
Dutiful as a monk, Hyon Gyon is found each day in Harlem: attacking, ripping and working with massive canvases like an animal.
Her new work begins with the raw energy of long haphazard black slashes of paint, reflections of gold leaf, foreboding faces with gnarled and jagged teeth smiling through chards of broken mirror…A three-month residency in Chashama’s Harlem studio has set the artist on a cataclysmic outpour of large politically poignant pieces. Motifs of skulls, War-machines, political leaders (such as Kim Jong-il: Former Supreme Leader of North Korea), and the Pope come to play on her stretched canvas surfaces.
Collectors of Hyon’s work appreciate this prolific artist’s journey. She has acclimated herself from a Korean upbringing to life exhibiting in Japan and currently has been taking the “A Train” restlessly to Harlem and painting nonstop to prepare for her next solo exhibition.
Hyon Gyon’s nails are neon…from tireless work. Fury-infused depictions of political figures melded with phallic symbolism underneath soft palettes of gold built over neon paints she has been squeezing from tubes of thrown out containers across her studio space… mantra captions being bull dozed by vehicles of destruction, knives followed by chaotic colorful scratching…
The event is generously supported by Sotheby’s and Chashama.
Hyon Gyon
October 23 – 27 11:30 am to 7:30 pm
471 west 126th street
Article and photographs by Sarah Malmude
Love how you write about this painter!
Amazing work!