Hayoung Eum

《My, Pretty》

2GIL29 GALLERY presents My, Pretty, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Hayoung Eum, on view from April 18 through May 16, 2026. The exhibition considers the translation of private forms of address—intimate, often habitual language that emerges within close relationships—into pictorial form.

Hayoung Eum, PARADISE I, 2026, Acrylic on Canvas, 45.5 x 53cm

The title phrase, My, Pretty, operates less as a fixed designation than as a relational utterance, carrying affect, duration, and proximity. Eum’s paintings resist narrative resolution, instead articulating states of feeling that remain only partially legible.

Hayoung Eum, PARADISE II, 2026, Acrylic on Canvas, 45.5 x 53cm

Her work is structured by a tension between warmth and detachment: an investment in the subject that is held at a measured distance. Images appear as fragments—drawn from everyday visual culture, memory, and personal experience—reconfigured into layered compositions where affect is diffused rather than declared. Meaning is not stabilized but suspended, allowing the surface to function as a site where sensation accumulates and disperses.

Hayoung Eum, Wonder Falls, 2026, Acrylic on canvas, 145.5 x 112 cm

Recent works further condense this approach. Forms dissolve, overlap, and re-emerge, producing images that are less descriptive than atmospheric. Rather than depicting events, Eum’s paintings register their residue—traces of memory, tonal shifts, and emotional afterimages. The resulting works invite a mode of viewing grounded in recognition without resolution.

Hayoung Eum, Wonderscape, 2026, Acrylic on Canvas, 170 x 135cm

Hayoung Eum (b. 1980) received her BFA in Textile Art and Fashion Design and her MFA in Printmaking from Hongik University, Seoul. She began her career in 2006 through Vogue Korea as the first Korean artist represented by an international fashion illustration agency, participating in various global projects. This background informs her sensitivity to mediated imagery and visual language, which she reconfigures within her painting practice. Eum is currently an adjunct professor at Hongik University. Her work is held in private and institutional collections internationally.