Hyewon Min (b. 1983) received her BFA in Korean Painting from Dongguk University and is based in Seoul, South Korea. Her work begins from fleeting emotional states—those that remain after a moment has passed, quietly settling beyond language. Using nature not as a subject but as a passage, she constructs inner landscapes shaped by memory, sensation, and a distinctly Korean sensibility.  She is currently preparing for a solo exhibition in the second half of 2026 and will participate in KIAF, Seoul, Korea, in September, as well as Breeze Art Fair 2026 (Dongduk Art Gallery, Seoul). 

Her recent exhibitions include Art Busan (BEXCO, Busan, 2025), Open Storage (Gyeonggi Sangsang Campus, 2025), To Stay (Gallery Lull, Seoul, 2025), and Be My Santa Claus (Luan & Co. Gallery, Seoul, 2025). In 2024, she held a solo exhibition Time to Face Myself (ARTIAN SEOUL, Seoul) and participated in One’s Own Season (SPACE U, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital), THIRTY: Discovery of Seongnam (Cube Art Museum, Seongnam Arts Center), and Mental Landscape: Encounter with the Unknown (Vivian Choi Gallery, Seoul), as well as Art Gyeonggi Run Festival (Gallery KKI). Earlier exhibitions include Sweet Moon, What Kind of Moon (Daegu University Museum, 2023), Asian Contemporary Young Artists Exhibition (Sejong Center for the Performing Arts Museum, Seoul, 2023), and The Value (CICA Museum, 2023). She currently lives and works in Seoul.

Can you tell us about your background and how you started your artistic journey?

There are emotions that resonate deeply in everyday life—the lingering feeling after finishing a book, a moment from a journey, or an object that holds a personal story. These moments are often small and easily overlooked, yet they remain with a certain clarity over time. Among countless experiences, I began working to hold onto those that feel particularly vivid, as a way of preserving something that would otherwise fade. Painting became a way to return to those moments, not as they were, but as they are felt.

What are the main themes or concepts you explore in your work?

My work is less about telling a story and more about creating a state where emotions can reside. I am interested in moments such as a way home, a place of rest, or fragments of memory—things that are sensed rather than clearly defined. 

For me, landscape functions as a language. It is not something to be described, but something through which emotions are conveyed. Rather than approaching it through representation, I see it through a more conceptual and internal lens, allowing it to shift away from a fixed image. In doing so, the image becomes a space where viewers can encounter their own emotions and experiences.

Nature appears to be a central source of inspiration in your work. Can you talk about how your relationship with the natural world shapes your practice over time?

Nature functions in my work not as a subject, but as a medium through which emotions are revealed. The texture of leaves, flowing lines, and diffused light stand in for states that are difficult to articulate. Instead of reproducing a specific landscape, I bring forward the air, warmth, and sensations I experienced within it, allowing them to take on a different form. 

My way of seeing nature moves away from direct representation and leans toward a more conceptual mode of perception. What appears in the work is not the landscape itself, but something that has already passed through my inner world. In that sense, nature becomes inseparable from the emotional and psychological state that shapes it.

What is your creative process like? Do you follow a routine or work spontaneously?

My process moves between structure and spontaneity. I usually begin with a loose framework, but the direction of the work shifts as I respond to the movement of color, material, and gesture. There are many moments where I follow the rhythm of the brush rather than control it, allowing the process to remain open. 

Working within this uncertainty is important to me. Unexpected forms begin to emerge, and the work gradually develops by responding to these moments rather than imposing a fixed outcome. In this way, the painting arrives at a state that feels both intentional and discovered.

How do your personal experiences and identity influence your art?

Rather than directly depicting personal narratives, I work with the residue of emotion that remains after an experience. Memories do not appear in their original form, but transform and settle into the work in different ways. Sometimes they become completely unfamiliar images. 

At the core of my practice lies a distinctly Korean sensibility—an attention to stillness, resonance, and the space where emotion lingers. This sensibility shapes not only how I construct an image, but also how I approach time, space, and emptiness within the work. It becomes a quiet foundation that informs my artistic identity.

What projects are you currently working on, and what can we expect from you in the future?

Recently, I have been working in a more ambiguous state, moving closer to what I think of as the pure texture of emotion. By allowing uncertainty to remain within the process, the work develops in ways that I cannot fully predict. At a certain point, the painting seems to arrive at its own form. 

Moving forward, I would like to continue working within this state of uncertainty, while expanding the way I construct space and image. By further dissolving the boundary between abstraction and figuration, I hope to create environments where emotions can quietly settle, much like a landscape that is not seen, but experienced.

Text and photo courtesy of Hyewon Min

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