Term: Aug – Oct 2026
@artist_p
Jungwon Phee (b. 1993) is an artist based in Seoul and New York. His practice explores the relationship between memory, perception, and material through a sustained engagement with abstraction. Drawing on experiences of living in Canada, the United States, and Korea, Phee’s work reflects an ongoing negotiation between personal history and shifting cultural contexts.
Central to his practice is the use of black surfaces constructed through layers of ink, gesso, and pigment. Rather than functioning simply as a color, black operates as a structural ground upon which forms, gestures, and traces accumulate over time. Rectilinear elements such as squares and bands intermittently emerge across these surfaces, acting as spatial markers that register moments of perception, memory, and transformation. Phee’s paintings develop through a repetitive process of layering, interruption, and revision.
Cracks, bends, and irregularities within the surface are not corrected but incorporated as part of the work’s evolving structure. Through this iterative method, the paintings register the passage of time while revealing the tension between control and contingency.
Recent solo exhibitions include Into Drawing 51: Archival Painting at SOMA Drawing
Center, Seoul, Korea (2025), Ma at Gallery Hayashi + Art Bridge, Tokyo, Japan (2025), From Darkness at Space Hyeong, Seoul, Korea (2024), Abstraction of Black Space and Memory at The Reference, Seoul, Korea (2024), Confluence at Seojung Art, Seoul, Korea (2022), and Emotional Layers at Seongnam Art Center, Gyeonggi, Korea (2022). His work has also been included in group exhibitions such as Art Auction 14 at Weserhalle, Berlin, Germany (2025), New Independent: Crossword at Yangpyeong Museum of Art, Gyeonggi, Korea (2025), Ecocycle at Kornfeld Galerie Berlin and 68projects, Berlin, Germany (2025), and Instead of a Result, a Process at M5 Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (2023).
Phee’s recent and forthcoming projects include a touring exhibition across the Americas, organized by the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), scheduled for 2026, and a residency at the Leipzig International Art Programme (LIA), Leipzig, Germany, in August 2026. In these contexts, Phee continues to explore abstraction as a means of registering perception, memory, and consciousness through material form.
