A trio of small pottery shards, two painted on linen and one terracotta, nest inside a walnut body for Dabin Ahn’s “Circle of Life.” Displayed on brass dowels, these fragments depict numerous phases of vitality, whether or not a faintly speckled butterfly or a candle snuffed out, leaving a skinny wisp of smoke trailing onto the canvas.
Blurring the boundary between two and three dimensions, Ahn ceaselessly strives for steadiness. When rendering deep shadows and melancholic moods, he intersperses tender lighting via candles and fireflies. These ephemeral, dynamic types additionally counter the static motifs adorning his vessels.
“Everything I do is scripted,” the artist provides, noting that the precise pottery shards should not discovered objects however meticulously carved fragments of a planter in his studio.
Born in Seoul, Ahn was raised in a inventive household. His father is famend actor Ahn Sung-Ki, and the fundamentals of filmmaking—following a script, framing a shot to seize a temper, conjuring emotional responses—floor among the artist’s follow. After a obligatory two years within the Korean Air Drive, the artist completed his diploma on the Faculty of the Artwork Institute of Chicago, and he nonetheless calls the town residence.
As an undergrad, Ahn dabbled in abstraction earlier than settling firmly in illustration, starting with self-portraits and later venturing into nonetheless life. A part of that call got here from a want to make work with a number of entry factors. A viewer may respect the fragile interaction of sunshine and shadow in “Aura,” for instance, with out having a strong data of Korean porcelain traditions. However, just like the tiny scenes the artist tucks into the perimeters of work, in his work, there’s at all times extra to be discovered by taking a re-evaluation.
Ahn is deeply engaged with artwork historical past and the ceramic practices of his native Korea. His vessels usually evoke the white porcelain ware of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), elegant types evoking the purity and minimalism of Neo-Confucianist thought. Cobalt motifs and a blue tinge later emerged as a uncommon and extremely valued twist on the normal vessels.
Though Ahn not works in self-portraiture, his works are at all times autobiographical and reflective of what’s taking place in his life. As he opens his solo exhibition, Good Issues Take Time, this week at Harper’s Gallery in New York, he’s extra hopeful than he has been for some time.
Ahn’s father was identified with most cancers in 2020, and the artist spent the final 4 years processing the information and grieving. “It really affected the reality of things,” he shared. “My work was all over the place. I was making paintings. I was making sculptures. The image was not really there, and it was not cohesive. I was just mentally not stable at the time, maybe a little too depressed.”
Then final yr, Ahn determined to scrap the work he made and start anew. Slightly than face the huge, if not daunting, white house of a clean canvas, he began small by portray a taper candle on the aspect body. “It was a very meditative process. Candles are related to meditation and hold a lot of emotion. It was really calming for me,” he provides.
He started to carve away sections of frames to disclose smaller works throughout the bigger composition. At the moment, his studio is bisected to create a clear house for portray and one other for his woodshop. Ahn is reflective and extremely targeted, and he works on each components of a composition concurrently, fostering a relentless dialog between portray and sculpture.
Candles function prominently on this new physique of labor and supply a counterpoint to the generally somber parts of the artist’s work. Symbols of hope and heat, the flames softly illuminate the vestiges of a vessel or the beveled edges of a picket body.
Equally, the butterflies and moths painted on the pottery shards are met with vigorous bugs that, within the case of “Twin Flame,” forged a shadow as they flutter throughout the canvas. He provides:
I select to depict bugs not solely as a result of they seem in among the objects I reference, however as a result of they nearly really feel like a common language, just like how candles are among the many most simply recognizable objects. I would like my works to be approachable and alluring to all audiences no matter their background.
Though they comprise remnants of earlier our bodies of labor, these new work mark a turning level. “I think I’m done with the really sad sadness,” the artist says. “It’s bright, almost happy. There’s hope this time.”
Good Issues Take Time is on view via December 7. Discover extra from the artist on Instagram.
