Hwang Do You : The Green Ray
Kimreeaa Gallery is delighted to present a solo exhibition by Hwang Do You, titled "The Green Ray – On the Similarity with Punk Rock and Contemporary Art." The exhibition features a new body of works by the artist, titled "The Green Ray," along with his latest works from the "The Thirty-Three Flower Blossoms" and "Alice in Wonderland" series.
“The strokes drawn in The Green Ray series represent, to me, a single scream revealing the girl's precarious psychological state.”
Hwang Do You’s new series features portraits of girls with striking fluorescent hues that accentuate their faces. The artist drew visual inspiration from an image that was accidentally generated due to a nozzle malfunction in a printer. The unintentionally generated image reminded the artist of "God Save the Queen" by the 'Sex Pistols' from 1977, particularly the image on the album jacket where bold lines intersect the eyes and lips of Queen Elizabeth II. Through this image, the artist also discovered a subtle connection between contemporary art and punk rock music.
On the Similarity with Punk Rock and Contemporary Art
Punk rock emerged in the late 1970s as a rebellious and progressive genre of music that rejected conventional music skills to prioritize spirituality. This aligns with the emphasis on the spiritual aspect of artistic expression, as discussed in Wassily Kandinsky’s book “Concerning the Spiritual in Art.” The fluorescent lines act as a kind of scream that reveals the tense psychological states of the girls, akin to Kandinsky’s representation of intense lemon color as the sound of a high trumpet.
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Music and Girls in Hwang Do You's Artistic Practice
Girls in music, literature, and art have often been portrayed as symbols of freedom, and purity while also representing vulnerability, instability, inevitable changes, and creativity that come with growth. However, the girls in “The Green Ray” series confront the viewers with a gaze of resistance and unconventional perspectives. They appear to be discovering their own voices and pursuing freedom while challenging traditional beauty standards.
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The “Green Ray” on their faces powerfully expresses their psychological changes, hinting at their rich imagination for new transformations. Through the portraits of empowered girls and the spirit of punk rock that the artist highlights in the exhibition, the artist invites viewers to his inner world.
The Holistic Brush Stroke
Hwang Do You is an artist who seeks to express the essence of pure pictorial artistry through a variety of techniques. One of his most distinctive techniques is the Holistic Brush Stroke, which draws inspiration from the teachings of Shih T’ao, a Buddhist monk artist from the Qing dynasty. According to Shih T’ao, all things emanate from a single stroke, encapsulating the entirety of the universe and beyond.
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His paintings capture every stroke he makes, revealing the process behind the artwork. In his new series "The Green Ray," one can observe a bolder use of brushstrokes compared to his earlier works.
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Exhibition installation view
Exhibition installation view
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