Johyun Gallery Seoul presents a solo exhibition by Kang Kang Hoon, whose meticulous hyperrealist worksexplore the liminal space between the tangible and intangible. Showing from May 16 to July 13, 2025, this exhibition marks Kang’s return after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus since his 2022 solo exhibition with Johyun Gallery. His recent works continue his painterly exploration of portraiture and cotton motifs—visual metaphors of intergenerational connection. Four large-scale works on n°200 canvases created in2025, along with smaller cotton studies, are featured in the white cube, creating an immersive dialogue between presence and absence, reality and representation.

Kang Kang Hoon captures images of his daughter through portraiture, one of the oldest forms in arthistory. He has featured her in his works since 2016, documenting her change and growth with remarkable care. Rather than simply reproducing her likeness, Kang aims to capture something more elusive—his subject’s onto logical state, conveying emotional shifts and life energy generated within their relationship.This process begins with hundreds of portrait photographs taken without premeditation, capturing genuine moments of connection. This guileless familial interaction translates directly onto the canvas. Executed with delicate brushstrokes, these works move beyond traditional family portraiture, questioning the diachronic essence of relationships that encompass identity formation, emotional connections, and deep-running layers of memory.

Cotton is another crucial motif in his work: an icon of his late mother and the transcendent existence inherent in nature’s objects, a visual bridge between generations. Introduced in 2022 following his mother’spassing, the soft cotton fibers evoke his mother’s white hair, while the weathered husks recall her hands—blurring boundaries between presence and absence, form and formlessness. This natural element functions as a memento mori with a dualistic character—flowerless and dormant yet pregnant with potential life—that establishes a visual lexicon reinterpreting traditional vanitas themes for contemporary viewers. The juxtaposition of cotton with his daughter’s portrait creates a visual narrative that spans generations, linking past, present, and future.

Deliberately omitted details, areas of impasto creating dramatic matière, and a restrained palette that paradoxically intensifies the emotional impact. Like standing on the ground while gazing at clouds floating in the sky, the works remain anchored in material reality while reaching toward something beyond the visible. Titles such as After Rain, After Sunset, and All Things Pass further emphasize themes of ephemerality within nature, life’s presence, and persistence beyond the material—gesturing toward spirituality. Cotton placed alongside the daughter’s face, subtle illumination, and atmospheric elements serve as visual conduits between generations, creating poetic metaphors for existence’s cyclical nature—what is lost and what continues, what changes and what persists.

This exhibition offers a concentrated view of the painterly essence that has defined Kang Kang Hoon’s artistic journey. It runs from May 16 through July 13, 2025, at Johyun Gallery Seoul.

Venue
Johyun Gallery Seoul,The Shilla Seoul B1, 249 Dongho-ro Jung-gu Seoul, South Korea

Artist
Kang Kang Hoon

Exhibition Dates
May 16 – July 13, 2025

Gallery Hours
Tuesday – Sunday | 10:30 AM – 6:30 PM

Website
https://www.johyungallery.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/johyungallery/

Contact
press@johyungallery.com

About Artist

Kang Kang Hoon’s portrait series not only captures external features but also delves into the deeper emotional essence of each subject, inviting viewers to confront their true selves. His daughter, a recurringmotif, serves as both the focal point of the artwork and a reflection of Kang himself. In a recent oil painting series, Kang incorporates symbolic object cotton, inspired by a yearning for his recently deceased mother. The contrast between withered branches and bloomed cotton subtly conflicts and harmonizes, contemplating intergenerational connections. Employing cotton as a metaphor for the enduring connections within humanity, Kang explores broad themes of the past and future on the delicate realm between figuration and abstraction. Major exhibitions featuring his works include the Jeju Museum ofArt, Jeju, South Korea; Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art, Gyeongju, South Korea; Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae, South Korea; Gyeonggi Provincial Museum, Ansan, South Korea; Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeju, South Korea; Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon, South Korea; and Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, South Korea. His works are in the collection of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art. He has been featured and sold out at numerous art fairs worldwide, including Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and Shanghai, China, and he continues to remain active internationally as one of the most recognizable, leading artists in Korean contemporary art today.

(Text and images courtesy of Johyun Gallery Seoul)