{"id":63325,"date":"2026-08-18T15:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T06:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/?post_type=insights&p=63325"},"modified":"2026-08-18T17:06:38","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T08:06:38","slug":"%e3%80%8acloud-9%e3%80%8b","status":"publish","type":"insights","link":"https:\/\/kiaf.org\/en\/insights\/63325","title":{"rendered":"\u300aCloud 9\u300b"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seong Ryul<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, \u300aCloud 9\u300bMain Poster<\/em><\/p>\n

Gallery Joeun presents \u300aCloud 9\u300b, a solo exhibition by its represented artist Seong Ryul (b. 1994), from August 20 to September 19. Through recent works, the exhibition offers a focused look at the artist\u2019s ongoing exploration of memory, time, growth, and the sensation of moments slipping away.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Holidays (Acrylic), 116.8 x 91cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Seong Ryul\u2019s works are often perceived as \u201cpaintings of summer\u201d because of their blue skies, immense white clouds, and dazzling sunlight. However, Cheong Jong Hyo, Chief Curator of the Busan Museum of Art, views Seong Ryul\u2019s paintings not simply as summer landscapes but as \u201cpaintings about growth.\u201d Cheong explains that, for Seong Ryul, summer is less a season than a moment when life is at its most vigorous\u2014a period that symbolizes human growth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Cloud 13, 73.4 x 60cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The immense clouds signify time in constant flux, while light serves as a medium through which memories are recalled. Ultimately, what Seong Ryul paints is not so much the landscape itself as the process of time, memory, and growth.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Cloud 14, 73.4 x 60.5cm, Acrylic Gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

The exhibition title \u300aCloud 9\u300b refers to a state of complete happiness, a sense of euphoria as though floating above the clouds. In Seong Ryul\u2019s work, however, happiness does not appear as a spectacular or dramatic event. Rather, it is closer to a moment that seemed too ordinary to notice at the time, only to be recognized as precious after it has passed. In his 2025 artist statement, Seong Ryul writes of \u201cmoments that make me feel good,\u201d while at the same time sensing that those moments will eventually pass. He also suggests that perhaps life is about caring for and remembering one another amid that flow.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Cloud 16, 162.2 x 130.3cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

For Seong Ryul, painting is a way of holding on to such passing moments. The tonal variations and traces that emerge as he sprays water onto the surface, loosens the paint, and allows it to blend naturally also evoke the passage of time. As the artist writes, \u201ceven if our lives flow onward and eventually disappear somewhere, just as every moment inevitably leaves a trace,\u201d he leaves those traces within his work.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Water 2, 73.4 x 60cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u300aCloud 9\u300b is therefore both a memory of moments of happiness and a story about the human impulse to hold on to, preserve, and recall those moments.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Yamaha (Acrylic), 91 x 91cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

Seong Ryul uses acrylic gouache, building up multiple layers of thin, translucent color. Rather than removing the boundaries and traces that emerge naturally as the paint dries, he accepts them as part of the painting, creating a sense of depth in both air and time through accumulated layers of color. The artist says that rather than painting the landscape itself, he wants to paint the \u201cair\u201d that exists within it.<\/p>\n

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Seong Ryul, Cloud 17, 162.2 x 130.3cm, Acrylic gouache on canvas, 2026<\/em><\/p>\n

\u300aCloud 9\u300b offers a concentrated view of the pictorial world Seong Ryul has built to date, while also documenting the moment when an artist\u2019s paintings begin their journey in earnest toward a wider world. Rather than searching for the artist\u2019s own story within the works, viewers are led to recall a summer day or place from their own past, someone they once loved, and moments that have already disappeared. At that point, Seong Ryul\u2019s landscapes no longer remain solely within the artist\u2019s personal memories but become landscapes belonging to each person who encounters them.<\/p>\n

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Gallery Joeun<\/div>\n
3, Itaewon-ro 55 ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea<\/div>\n
+82-2-790-5889<\/div>\n
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WEBSITE<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0ARTSY<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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