ARIA GALLERY

Park Ki Hoon’s work explores the interconnectedness of humans, animals, cities, and nature through his concept of NATROPOLI, portraying a shared ecological sensorium. Using layered canvases of pigment and stone powder, he carves into the surface, revealing light and depth, a process reflecting patience, time, and compassion. His paintings balance asymmetry and subtle monochrome hues, evoking quiet coexistence without overt human presence. Over time, his vision evolved into HUMANTOPIA, depicting gentle, conscious human-animal-environment interactions. Park’s art invites viewers to slow down, observe, and reconsider their relationship with the living world, embodying the aesthetics of open coexistence.

Kim Sun delicately reproduces white porcelain moon jars on flat canvases, using crackle glaze to express light, form, color, and the spiritual world. Her moon jars feature asymmetry yet maintain harmony, showcasing subtle nuances of white and reflecting traditional Korean aesthetics. Through the crackle glaze effect, her works embody timelessness, freedom, and refined balance.

The artist explores the connection between humans and nature, focusing on fish and butterflies as symbols of life shared with humans. Through hands-on interaction and materials like epoxy, the works emphasize communion and the flow of life. The practice reflects an ongoing dialogue with living beings and the natural world around us.

I once had an extraordinary experience. I happened to be standing in front of a tree when I felt a huge movement. I saw the world moving through the tree I was standing in.I was so deeply drawn into the tree that I found myself like naked. Alone with a single tree in front of all of nature. Was it a real connection between the tree and me, or was it a solitary over immersion that came from a swirling respect for nature? Either way, I felt I had to capture this moment, to hold onto it, to turn it into an image so it wouldn't fade away.

I found some commonalities between nature and humans and created abstract objects and landscapes using obscure and invisible elements. Stones are broken, rolled, chiseled, and polished. Trees take root, absorb, release, and grow. Trees interact and grow just like we do. I reference these movements or shapes of nature. Then I combine them into a single painting. The spaces in my work are unreal, abstract, and blurred. Between reality and unreality, abstract and unclear landscape images are spiritual landscapes that are constantly created and destroyed in our minds.

The paintings contain both accidental smudges and emotional brushstrokes, along with clear shapes. I hope that through these layered images, viewers will find commonalities with their own personal heart landscapes and sympathize with them.

Dreaming Island expresses an ideal and similar paradise derived from an atypical stain with a dreamlike feeling. It is a work of converting information extracted from the gripping of memory into a visual shape. The abstract and concept contain a very Korean emotion in it, dreaming of a deviation from the space for a while, and revealing its appearance as it is. The numerous shapes of arithmetic and animals in the work are another faces of people who want to realize an ideal world with their own abilities and life. It doesn't matter whether it has a specific shape or not. By realizing a lot of content of the ideal world within the small space of the work, I want to communicate with people who are tired of daily life.

A Return to the Garden Where Longing Blooms from Memory