Whitestone Gallery Seoul is pleased to present “OVERLAID: Layered Time, Forms of Memory”, a solo exhibition by Kim Deok Han, on view from October 25th to December 7th, 2025. This presentation follows the artist’s continued engagements in Whitestone Beijing and Taipei, where he has steadily expanded his practice across both tradition and contemporary experimentation.

Working with ottchil—the traditional Korean lacquer—Kim constructs layers of time, memory, and existence. Through repeated coating and sanding, his works reveal strata where past and present intersect, each polished or abraded surface becoming a vessel of memory and a meditation on being.

At the heart of the exhibition is a monumental installation from the ‘DIVISION Series,’ stretching 12 meters in length and 6 meters in height, transforming the second-floor gallery into an immersive spatial experience. Sculptural works from the ‘COMPRESSED Series’ and new pieces from the ‘OVERLAID Series’ further explore the boundaries between painting, sculpture, and object, embodying Kim’s pursuit of a language where matter and spirit, tradition and contemporaneity coalesce.

Kim’s lacquer works resonate beyond material experimentation, using layering and erasure as metaphor and ritual to reflect memory and the passage of time. By bridging the discipline of a traditional medium with contemporary inquiry, Kim situates his work within the discourse on Korean abstraction post-Dansaekhwa while opening new paths for reimagining tradition. “OVERLAID: Layered Time, Forms of Memory” offers a rare opportunity for viewers to encounter time materialized in layered form—where presence, absence, and remembrance quietly converge.

Venue
70 Sowol-ro, Yongsan-ku, Seoul, Korea (04326)

Artists
Kim Deok Han

Exhibition Dates
October 25 – December 7, 2025

Gallery Hours
Tuesday – Sunday | 11 AM – 7 PM

Website
http://www.whitestone-gallery.com

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/whitestonegallery.official/

Contact
TEL: +822 318 1012

About Artist

Kim Deok Han (b. 1981) studied Lacquer Art and Cultural Heritage Conservation, devoting many years to a systematic exploration of lacquer and mastering the unique traditions and techniques of East Asia. His practice involves applying multiple layers of traditional lacquer and sanding them down to reveal hidden strata, a meditative process of patience and repetition that results in smooth and deeply resonant surfaces. He describes this as “layering fragments of the past and then sanding them away to look into multi-layered time,” offering viewers a chance to reflect on their own inner landscapes through traces of time and memory. Kim has presented solo exhibitions at the Lee Ungno Museum, Whitestone Gallery Beijing, and in Taipei, and in 2023 participated in a group exhibition at the Art Base of the Park Seo-Bo Foundation. He has also collaborated with the whisky brand Balvenie, further expanding the contemporary possibilities of lacquer as a traditional medium.

(Text and images courtesy of Whitestone Gallery Seoul)