Image: Hudson River Museum, Yonkers
The Hudson River Museum in Yonkers has mounted 'Its Inside Is Bigger Than Its Outside: Paintings by Seongmin Ahn', a solo exhibition that runs from April 14 to October 15, 2023. The show brings together eight paintings from Ahn’s series 'Its Inside Is Bigger Than Its Outside' and one work from her earlier 'Flat File' series, presenting the artist’s distinctive images of drawers, portals, peonies and waterfalls in a sequence of linked, imaginative spaces.
According to the museum, Ahn was born in South Korea and resides in New York. In this exhibition, she combines traditional Korean painting techniques with contemporary subject matter to express what the museum describes as her personal journey toward a sense of home as an artist bridging Eastern and Western cultures. The exhibition is organized by the Hudson River Museum and supported by assistance provided by the County of Westchester.
Ahn’s paintings use what the museum calls surreal space and two separate yet connected dimensions. The artist draws on 'The Chronicles of Narnia' by C. S. Lewis, especially the idea of entering another universe through magic portals. In one statement on the museum’s exhibition page, Ahn says, “In my paintings, by symbolic action and opening a drawer, two seemingly separate dimensions become integrated. It is a matter of how to find connection and openness.” The museum also notes that her use of reverse perspective creates the illusion that open drawers become secret portals.
The works in the show reflect multiple strands of Ahn’s practice. The Hudson River Museum says her painting style combines Korean black ink wash and color painting with an affinity for Western abstract and conceptual art. It also cites the influence of Minhwa, Korean folk art that reached its height during the last century of the Chosŏn dynasty. The exhibition page highlights imagery of cascading peonies, blossoming plum trees and splashing waterfalls, alongside flat areas of saturated color and bold composition.
The museum identifies Ahn’s 'Flat File' series as a precursor to the later body of work, in which she first began to experiment with hyperdimensional, connected spaces. The exhibition includes one painting from that earlier series, 'Miraculous Drawer: Waterfall 4' from 2014, alongside works from the later series dating from 2016 and 2018, including 'Waterfall'. The exhibition page shows the artist’s paintings on mulberry paper in ink and color.
This is described by the museum as Ahn’s first solo exhibition at an American art museum, and her first solo exhibition at the Hudson River Museum. The museum’s page also notes that her work is in the collections of the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, the Princeton University Art Museum and the Hudson River Museum. Ahn holds an MFA in Asian traditional painting from Seoul National University and an MFA in multidisciplinary art from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
A related public program, 'Floral Dimensions: A Discussion with Seongmin Ahn and John Yau', is scheduled for Sunday, September 17, 2023, at 2pm in the Greene Education Center. The museum says simultaneous ASL interpretation will accompany the talk, including the Q&A. The exhibition itself remains on view through October 15, 2023.
