Ugo Rondinone explores the fundamental and simple concept of the cycle of time in his work series sunrise. east.. This two-meter-high, massive silver aluminum sculptural head evokes various visual languages such as ritual masks, ghosts, comics, and emoticons, using diverse expressions to metaphorically represent human emotions like joy and adversity. Named from sunrise. east. january to sunrise. east. december, these sculptures represent each of the twelve months of the year, allowing viewers to reflect on the varied emotions experienced throughout the year.

Masks are a recurring motif in Rondinone's work, and the sunrise. east. series evokes totems of primitive cultures. When all twelve pieces are gathered, they bring to mind the circular monument of Stonehenge. His unique approach to connecting mythology and daily life shines through in this series, as he utilizes classical materials and techniques like clay and casting to reinterpret the cultural and art history of the past in a contemporary manner, presenting a distinctive and meditative visual language. Furthermore, Rondinone creates a dialogue between artificiality and naturalness, culture and society, and eternity and transience, exploring the relationship between life and art.

Nam June Paik's Flicker is one of his experimental media art pieces from the 1960s, combining light, electronic devices, and physical sensations to create a new audiovisual experience. The work uses the flicker effect, which involves periodic flashes of light to stimulate the viewer's vision and perception.

Flicker was created as part of Paik's exploration of the relationship between technology and humanity. It utilized analog television and lighting devices to produce a flickering effect that led viewers to experience visual illusions or psychological responses. The flicker effect interacts with brainwaves through light flashing at specific frequencies, allowing viewers to have a novel sensory experience.

This piece is a significant attempt to use media technology as an artistic tool, demonstrating the potential for technological devices to go beyond mere information delivery and actively stimulate human senses and consciousness. Nam June Paik played a pioneering role in media art, exploring the boundless possibilities of artistic expression through technology.

Philippe Parreno’s Marquee series is inspired by the dazzling light canopies of theater entrances. These canopies were particularly popular in the early to mid-20th century America, during the golden age of Hollywood, serving as billboards announcing the titles of films and the names of their stars. However, Parreno's marquees are stripped of all text, leaving only their shells, while the flickering, radiant halogen lights reveal a powerful presence.

For Parreno, the marquee acts as an element that intervenes in the exhibition space, introducing the possibility of an event. While it does not advertise a film screening, it still suggests the existence of cinema, transforming the exhibition space into a relic of Hollywood or Broadway scenery. This piece, which changes into an indicator, a label, or a naming device, acquires various meanings depending on the exhibition context and the viewer's imagination, inviting contemplation of the space and time beyond its luminous glow.

Anicka Yi (South Korean, b. 1971)

Wheel 1-3

UV print on silk screen mesh in cherry frame

148.6 x 118.1 cm

152.7 x 122.6 x 7.6 cm (framed)
2022

Anicka Yi (b. 1971) has expanded her work by engaging in dialogue with multiple machine learning models simultaneously. Initially, she used her own paintings as parameters, but later she combined various images, such as algae, bacteria, fungi, tissues and cells, plants and animals, machines and electronics, and geological landscapes, allowing each model to evolve independently. Yi conceptualized this process as a hybridization of her visual patterns and motifs (her "visual DNA") with ecological entities encompassing both living and non-living things.

The machine learning algorithms generated in this way function like layers of paint, creating unique hybrid images that reference real objects while also presenting abstract forms, colors, and patterns. These images, which merge contrasting elements, evoke a visual effect of swelling or bursting into the shapes of living beings on the surface of the work, similar to cellular differentiation. In the Mesh Paintings series, the mesh material used creates visual effects akin to holograms by utilizing properties such as light reflection, distortion, transparency, and layering, resulting in images that appear differently depending on the viewpoint. Through these algorithm-based painting experiments, Yi challenges the authorship and mythology of the painter. Is it possible to create a painting without the physical presence of the artist? How might machine intelligence influence the evolution of painting? Can the subjective and embodied aspects of painting be performed by machines? How can machines complement the entire process of painting, from theme setting to physical implementation, titling, and installation? Furthermore, can we eventually understand painting not just as a product of an individual but as an ecosystem in which materials, bodies, microorganisms, and machines all participate in creation and production?

Lee Ufan's Dialogue series is a body of work that reflects his artistic characteristics well, fostering profound communication between the viewer and the artwork through the use of emptiness and interaction. The work utilizes space and emptiness to reveal the boundary between existence and non-existence, emphasizing brushstrokes within the broad negative space. The simple brushstrokes and dots, which convey depth within simplicity, are repetitive, but each line and dot accumulates energy and tension, imparting profound philosophical meaning.

Furthermore, the organic brushstrokes that express harmony with nature and the gradual accumulation that reflects time and repetition capture the flow of time in the artwork. Through these elements, the viewer is led to experience a meditative contemplation on time and existence.

Most importantly, the concept of relationship and interaction is at the core of the Dialogue series, creating a space of dialogue where the gaze and response between the viewer and the artwork interact. This provides the viewer with an experience of participation and communion with the work. Lee Ufan's Dialogue goes beyond simple visual beauty to explore the relationship between humanity, nature, and time, offering the viewer a meditative and reflective experience.

Richard Tuttle is an American contemporary artist known for his unique works that transcend minimalism and conceptual art. He explores the relationship between space and materials using delicate and simple forms, creating works that blur the boundaries of traditional painting and sculpture. Tuttle's works often use everyday materials such as canvas, fabric, paper, and wood, emphasizing the inherent qualities of these materials and their refined aesthetics.

His art is generally modest and simple in scale, yet contains significant emotional resonance and philosophical depth. Through visual simplicity and the imperfection of materials, Tuttle explores the beauty of form and presence in space, attempting to engage viewers in a sensory dialogue. His works often give a sense of being handcrafted, closely connected to the context of the space through precise installation and arrangement.

He works in a way that poses questions through form, color, and line, inviting viewers to actively participate in creating their own interpretation and meaning of the work. Rather than following the traditional rules of art, Tuttle focuses on experimenting with the boundaries of aesthetics and discovering the beauty of humble materials anew, leaving viewers with subtle yet profound impressions.

Vivien x 5 is a representative work by American contemporary artist Alex Katz, showcasing his unique portrait style and minimalist aesthetics. The piece features Vivien repeated five times, capturing different expressions. Katz visualizes time and perspective shifts through the repetitive arrangement of the figure, using flat forms and bright colors to portray multiple facets of the subject.

Katz's work is characterized by simplified forms and clear colors, reflecting his connection to pop art. Vivien x 5 eliminates unnecessary details, emphasizing vitality and presence through visual imagery. The different directions of Vivien's gaze induce psychological interaction with the viewer, inviting them to engage with the work.

Ultimately, Vivien x 5 explores time, change, and the viewer's relationship with the subject, presenting new possibilities for modern portraiture through its distinctive use of color and composition.

Kim Taek Sang, a prominent figure in Korean post-Dansaekhwa, creates works that establish their own unique environments. His Breathing Light series draws inspiration from the reflective properties of water and the qualities of light that arise from it. Kim's translucent paintings move away from traditional elements of painting, such as form, depiction, and narrative, instead filling the canvas with various gradations of color. He views his works as spatial structures composed of natural elements like water, light, and time, based on a balance of high intentionality and one-time chance occurrences. His works can be seen as a process that mimics and creates tension between serendipity and intention.

The artist pours a diluted acrylic solution onto the canvas, allowing the dissolved particles to settle on the surface over time. Once a layer of color has been absorbed by the canvas, he drains the remaining water and lets it dry. Kim repeats this process dozens or even hundreds of times until the surface reaches the stage of "breathing light." Through this process, the multiple layers that accumulate reveal each other while also fading. While he plays an active role in the process, he also leaves space for natural actions to influence the outcome on the canvas. In Breathing Light - Red in Red - 23-1 (2023), the dense layers of red tones impart texture and tactility to the surface. The subtle changes in color at the edges of the canvas evoke the gentle flow of water saturated with pigment, adding a sense of vibrancy and depth to the piece.

Ken Gun Min expresses sorrow, joy, and longing through vivid and dynamic paintings rendered poetically. Born in Seoul, he has continued his artistic practice in cities like San Francisco, Zurich, Berlin, and Los Angeles. Drawing from his experiences as an immigrant and his multicultural perspective, he has delved into themes that are often overlooked or marginalized. Ken intertwines historical narratives, especially those that receive little attention, with biblical and ancient mythological imagery. He also merges oil painting with traditional Korean pigments and embroidery, weaving a cross-cultural landscape on the canvas. In his latest works, he addresses his personal childhood experiences from the late 1980s, yet presents them in culturally unbounded, fantastical imagery.

2022-1988 explores personal and social relationships through two stories related to tigers from the years 1988 and 2022. During the hot summer of 1988, Ken was mobilized for mass gymnastics training for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Seoul Olympics. He had no time to question the adults' rhetoric about contributing to South Korea's progress as a developing nation; instead, he experienced the deprivation of his rights to education and freedom as a minor. The Olympic mascot, Hodori, became an image stained with the notion of personal sacrifice for the young artist. In contrast, the story from 2022 is related to the death of P-22, a mountain lion that wandered through the affluent neighborhood of Los Feliz, Los Angeles. The city cared deeply for this animal, treating it as a local legend, and its death sparked discussions on animal rights and urban planning. The Los Angeles incident evoked memories of his uncomfortable childhood trauma, prompting Ken to metaphorically open the belly of the tiger and use jewels and embroidery to explore the stories within himself.

The Scandinavian artist duo Elmgreen & Dragset have worked together on all their projects since 1995, operating out of Berlin. Their collaborative practice spans sculpture, performance, design, architecture, and theater—often blending humor with philosophical depth. Their work stems from a shared belief that the spaces and structures we inhabit are never neutral; instead, they are loaded with meanings, hierarchies, and embedded systems of control. Through this lens, the artists examine the subtle resistance and existential disquiet that define our relationship to contemporary society. Their practice continues to interrogate and expose the rigid ideologies embedded in the world around them.

Children and adolescents frequently appear in their sculptural works, evoking a sense of vulnerability, transformation, and nostalgia. A boy poised at the edge of a diving board, or one sketching alone—these ordinary scenes are reimagined through classical or monumental materials. In doing so, the artists suggest that everyday moments from childhood are just as worthy of commemoration as major historical events—deeply formative and culturally significant in their own right.

An early version of The Boy with the Drone was first unveiled in L'Addition (2024), Elmgreen & Dragset’s solo exhibition at the Musée d'Orsay in Paris. The boy's outstretched arm mirrors the gesture of Anacreon (1851), a marble sculpture by Eugène Guillaume in the museum’s permanent collection. But while Anacreon holds a cup with a perched bird, the boy in Elmgreen & Dragset’s work holds a drone—an object ready to be released, as if into the world beyond. Here, the drone functions as an extension of the body, a projection of self—both tool and metaphor for agency in an uncertain future.