Curatorial Statement

Struggle in Black and White explores the tensions between humanity and nature, and between intention and chance through the language of ink painting. Black and white take form as brushstrokes and negative space within the picture plane, while also symbolizing the boundary between the artificial and the natural in everyday landscapes. In traditional ink painting, black and white are not understood as one merely filling the absence of the other. Rather, brushstroke and negative space function as equally significant compositional elements, each defining the other through a dynamic state of tension. Just as the space to remain unpainted must first be envisioned before a single brushstroke is placed, the picture plane is completed through the balance of opposition and harmony.

Against this conceptual background, after relocating to a small city, the artist became increasingly aware of landscapes shaped through deliberate planning. Roads and bridges carved into mountains, rows of street trees, and tunnels constructed for convenience remain as traces of human intervention inscribed upon nature. Yet these carefully ordered environments gradually give way to the spontaneous processes of nature. This continual cycle reveals the enduring tension in which humanity and nature continuously negotiate and reshape one another.

Rather than faithfully depicting these scenes, the works invite viewers to experience these relationships through the material qualities and expressive potential of ink itself. The traces left upon the paper embody an ongoing process of struggle and dialogue between humanity and nature, the visible and the invisible, intention and chance.

The exhibition centers on the Street Trees series, depicting roadside landscapes, and Tunnel, which symbolizes the boundary between the artificial and the natural. These works are accompanied by Bound in Lights, Lined Up, and Flaring Up. Together, they trace the ordinary landscapes encountered along the artist's daily paths, following the changing perspectives and sensibilities of the artist shaped by shifts in time and place. Ultimately, the exhibition presents a painterly journey that expands “from conflict to dialogue, from action to memory.”

Yoon Kiun

ns929@naver.com

Education

2017  D.F.A. Oriental Painting, Seoul National University, Seoul

2002  M.F.A. Oriental Painting, Seoul National University, Seoul

1998  B.F.A. Oriental Painting, Seoul National University, Seoul

Selected Solo Exhibitions

2026  Struggle in Black and White, OCI Museum of Art, Seoul

2021  Ugong Isan 愚公移山, Art Space Sueño339, Seoul

2020  Inevitably, Gallery Dam, Seoul

2019  Unavoidably, Chungmu Arts Center gallery, Seoul

2018  Unavoidably, Space 9, Seoul

          Solo Exhibition, Dongduk Art Gallery, Seoul

2016  Similar Yet Different, Different Yet Similar 似而非 非而似, E-Land Space, Seoul

2014  Subtle Moment, Gallery Grimson, Seoul

2012  Handwork 手作, Hoam Faculty House Gallery, Seoul

2010  Oscillation, Gallery Grimson, Seoul

          Gesture, Gallery Dam, Seoul

2007  Hidden Pictures, Gallery Dos, Seoul

          Circle, Galerie GAIA, Seoul

2005  The Road Not Taken, Gallery Han, Seoul

2003  Anxiety, Dongduk Art Gallery, Seoul

Selected Group Exhibitions

2024  Painting the Spirit of Our Time: Reinterpreting Woljeon, Woljeon Museum of Art Icheon, Icheon

2023  KNUE ECOMUSÉE: Walk II—Light, Korea National University of Education Museum, Cheongju

2022  Post-Pandemic: Reflection and Deviation, Hanbyeokwon Art Museum, Seoul

2021  Encounter between Hangeul and Korean Painting, Korean Cultural Center in Hong Kong, Hong Kong

          Ink Fragrance: Blooming in the Hometown of Ink, Jeonju Nouvelle Vague Art Museum, Jeonju

2018  Write an Art, Draw a Book, Kyungpook National University Art Museum, Daegu

          The 2nd International Triennial of Contemporary Graphic Arts in Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk State Art Museum, Novosibirsk, Russia

          Yoon Kiun × Matin Eugen Raabenstein: Dividing & Accumulating, Art Space Sueño 339, Seoul

          Jeonnam International Sumuk Biennale: Today’s Sumuk—Asks Yesterday, Answers Tomorrow, Nojeokbong Art Park Museum, Mokpo

2017  返照 (Reflected Light), Samrangseong History and Culture Festival Special Exhibition, Daejoru Special Exhibition hall, Jeondeungsa Temple, Incheon

2016  The 13th Asian, African & Mediterranean International Modern Art Exhibition, Qingtian Cultural Center Exhibition Hall, Qingtian, China

2015  The 49th Korean Painting Associaition Exhibition: A Feast of Silence, Seoul

2013  Eight Windows, OCI Museum of Art, Seoul

          Pre-Drawing Biennale: Drawing, the Beginning of Thought, Blume Museum of Contemporary Art, Paju

          Yoon Kiun × Song Yunju: Sodong 素動, Grimson Gallery, Seoul

Residencies

2017  OCI Museum of Art 1211 Residency, OCI Museum of Art, Seoul

2012-13  OCI Museum of Art Residency, OCI Museum of Art, Incheon

2007-08  MMCA Residency Goyang, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Goyang

Awards / Honors

2018  Selected for the Arts Project Support Program, Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Seoul

2015  Selected as the 6th E-Land space Artist, E-Land Foundation, Seoul

2010  Selected for the SeMA Young Artists Exhibition Support Program, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul

Collections

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, OCI Museum of Art, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Eulji Hospital