Ma

GALLERY HAYASHI + ART BRIDGE is delighted to present “Ma”, a solo exhibition by Seoul and New York-based artist Jungwon Phee. Marking the artist’s first solo exhibition in Tokyo, this show also inaugurates the collaboration between GALLERY HAYASHI + ART BRIDGE and Seojung Art.

Born in 1993, Jungwon Phee spent his childhood in Korea, the United States, and Canada, and obtained a degree in Fine Arts and Art History from Pratt Institute (New York). His nomadic lifestyle, experiencing different cultures in various lands, is strongly reflected in his latest series, “Untitled: The Black Path.” In this series, the black background embodies Phee’s unwavering selfhood, while screens, abstractly composed of cement as the main element with cracks and complex layers, express his inner self and memories that transform through daily experiences.

The liner and monochrome divided black backgrounds use Korean ink (Muk Ink) and black gesso, expressing the fusion of Western artistic traditions.
This interplay relates to Japanese aesthetic principle of “Ma”(間), where form is perceived through emptiness. Phee, who expresses this black background as himself, irreplaceable, can be considered to be derived from the spirit of Western minimalism, which conveys the essence by eliminating unnecessary functions.

In contrast, the cracked textures evoke a Neo-Expressionism, where the material itself holds inherent meaning. He creates his works by combining cement, chemicals and various other mediums, repeatedly applying and drying them in layers. Like Anselm Kiefer, who said in an interview with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, “colour not as illusion but as material,” he treats the material itself as a direct and expressive language, accepting that philosophy by creating layered textures and cracked screens.

Titled after the exhibition itself, Ma reflects a core aesthetic in Japanese culture, where meaning and beauty emerge from the interplay of void and substance. Jungwon Phee reinterprets this concept through a contemporary lens, transforming it into a new mode of expression. The exhibition will feature eight new and recent works, where two contrasting screens accentuate the interplay of presence and absence.