Wonhae Hwang has expanded her unique perspectives on architecture to space. Different textures and forms of timeless architectural style continue to appear, and she installs them in a space with similar traits. The images are dismantled by the artist's imperfect memories, moving to equally an imperfect space. The seemingly complex and unrestrained exhibition is created by meticulous planning by the artist, which is the reference point for building a new architectural image.

The last solo exhibition 《Phantasmagoria》 is the best example. Based on the measured drawing of Boan Inn, Wonhae Hwang placed her each work in perfect corners of the space, depicting facades of hanok and modern buildings. The exhibition reveals the unfinished walls and structures of the renovated house from the Japanese colonial period, and Hwang created images by various methods, such as drawing on the cracked surfaces or overlapping multiple layers of clear and opaque materials in the space. This aroused a sense of space where the concept and reality were ambiguous.

This time, Wonhae Hwang presents a solo exhibition titled “The Fourth Wall” [1] at Art space Hyeong in Euljiro. Due to the location and the exterior of the exhibition building, one may assume it would be similar to her exhibition from the past, but the process is completely different. Unlike the trend of exposing raw structures and finishing materials in art spaces such as Boan Inn, Art space Hyeong does not hesitate to look like a white cube. However, as the exhibition title “The Fourth Wall” shows, the unusually narrow and long layout of the space does not provide an adequate distance for viewing. She uses this sense of confinement in the overcrowded space as a medium for her new work resembling the incomplete exterior of Boan Inn.

Her new work series <Moire>[2] has a simple structure composed of painting works reflecting parts of the pattern on the U-shaped sheet paper covering the entire exhibit wall. In the corridor-style exhibition space, visitors are forced to see the art only in parts rather than the whole. It reminds us of the limitation of reproduction that captures the panoramic view of urban buildings by broken collages.

This imperfect perception is our experience of seeing the world. In Hwang’s new work, specific symbols which are reminiscent of deconstruction or fragments gradually diminish, and repeatability and continuity of patterns are emphasized. Like the series title suggests, the patterns shift according to the subtle movement of the audience and reveal an unexpected sense of movement. Hwang used to work with the concept of deconstruction in the past, and now she first builds the whole world in the exhibition space to arouse a sense of incomplete awareness. This is the birth of a new type of constructive act that enables one to experience deconstructed images.

[1] It is a theatrical terminology referring to the virtual wall existing between the stage and the audience. This concept is attributed to the French enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot (October 5, 1713, to July 31, 1713), which became the basis for realism drama. The audience and the actors across this wall do not intervene with each other.

[2] It is also called an interference pattern, a wave pattern, or a grid pattern, which is a stripe that is created according to the difference in cycles when shapes are repeated and overlapped several times.