Lee Jae-Hyun, Tatsuhito Horikoshi

이재현 Lee Jae-Hyun, My friend. 2024, Oil on canvas, 145 x 97 cm

Gallery Joeun is pleased to present the duo exhibition “Being There” by Lee Jae-Hyun (b. 1979) and Tatsuhito Horikoshi (b. 1985) from August 29 through September 28. The two artists, who portray characters in real and virtual ways, express humans as solitary beings in their unique artistic language.

Lee Jae-hyun (b. 1979), who replaces life memories with art, reconstructs memories of people and objects that were present in the artist’s life from childhood to the present on canvas. Using the impasto technique, in which a thick layer of paint is applied, the people and objects appear from coarse and gloomy to humorous and lonely, with a sense of color that shows the traces of time.

이재현 Lee Jae-Hyun, Jazz, 2024, Oil on canavs, 91 x 91 cm

The emotional hunger of the artist, who spent a lonely childhood due to the absence of his parents, who were preoccupied with life, is represented and healed through his work. In his works, the artist depicts a harmonious and peaceful time with his family in a warm living room (“People in the Room”) and is surrounded by toys he desperately wanted (“Obsession”). The artist’s dog, “Strawberry”, is omnipresent in the works, and the artist mixes memories with his life in the present, not just expressing the past buried inside his heart. Art critic Hong Kyoung-Han said, “For Lee Jae-Hyun, art is a call to memory and a silent diary about being there,” and through the work, his father, his mother, his sister, whom he missed as a child, and himself exist together.

이재현 Lee Jae-Hyun, 1983, 2024, Oil on canvas, 46 x 46 cm

The exhibition shows 13 works, including representative series such as “The Painter’s Still Life“ and the youth portrait “1983”, which is being shown for the first time. The artist, who studied architecture, sculpture, and painting, continues his career with exhibitions in Paris (2023), at the Joeun Gallery in Seoul (2023), and at the Whitestone in Seoul (2023). His solo exhibition at the Whitestone in Seoul will take place in 2025.

타츠히토 호리코시 Tatsuhito Horikoshi, Spring messenger, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 145.5 x 112 cm

Tatsuhito Horikoshi (b. 1985), who works in Tokyo, expresses the innocence, rebellious spirit, and open gender identity of youth in his unique and delicate artistic language. Boys and girls with calm facial expressions appear before the audience in classic portrait poses. The delicate, complementary color contrast, the detailed brushstrokes reminiscent of a drawing, and the way the image moves between transparency and opacity add subtle nuances to the painting.

타츠히토 호리코시 Tatsuhito Horikoshi, Sea child, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 116.7 × 80cm

Instead of the academic and realistic techniques learned in school, the artist, who studied Western painting, lays an artistic foundation for the expression of animation and manga style, which is considered to be a subculture. Characters that defy realism make it easier for the viewer to project themselves onto the canvas. At the same time, they remind us of our desire to transform ourselves, to escape reality, and to become an ideal being. They also evoke the importance of childlike curiosity, adventure, and dreams that we have forgotten.

타츠히토 호리코시 Tatsuhito Horikoshi, Good devil, 2024, Acrylic and oil on canvas, 60.6 × 50 cm

The artist, who believes that human insecurity and fragility are increasingly seen as unnecessary in the contemporary, rationalist, and achievement-oriented society, expresses the dignity and gentle humanity of weak and lonely minorities beyond the evocation of purity through portraits of determined boys and girls.

In this exhibition, 12 works, from large-scale to small portraits, will be shown for the first time in Korea. The artist, who studied Western painting at Tama University of Art in Japan, is active worldwide and has already had solo exhibitions in Hong Kong (2020), Paris (2022, 2023) and Beijing (2024). His debut in Korea was a complete success; in 2023, all of his works were sold out through Gallery Joeun at KIAF in Seoul. The works are in the Japanese Mr. I Collection and the Swiss Pigozzi Collection, and his works will be exhibited in New York City in November and in Shanghai in December.

Gallery Joeun
3, Itaewon-ro 55 ga-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea
+82-2-790-5889

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