Dabin Ahn Balances Hope and Melancholy in His Sculptural Work — Colossal


A trio of small pottery shards, two painted on linen and one terracotta, nest inside a walnut body for Dabin Ahn’s “Circle of Life.” Displayed on brass dowels, these fragments depict numerous phases of vitality, whether or not a faintly speckled butterfly or a candle snuffed out, leaving a skinny wisp of smoke trailing onto the canvas.

Blurring the boundary between two and three dimensions, Ahn ceaselessly strives for steadiness. When rendering deep shadows and melancholic moods, he intersperses smooth lighting by candles and fireflies. These ephemeral, dynamic kinds additionally counter the static motifs adorning his vessels.

“Every little thing I do is scripted,” the artist provides, noting that the precise pottery shards should not discovered objects however meticulously carved fragments of a planter in his studio.

a still life of a porcelain vessel with blue flowers on it. tiny fireflies fly around it
“Constellation (Little Dipper)” (2024)

Born in Seoul, Ahn was raised in a artistic household. His father is famend actor Ahn Sung-Ki, and the fundamentals of filmmaking—following a script, framing a shot to seize a temper, conjuring emotional responses—floor a few of the artist’s follow. After a obligatory two years within the Korean Air Drive, the artist completed his diploma on the College of the Artwork Institute of Chicago, and he nonetheless calls town dwelling.

As an undergrad, Ahn dabbled in abstraction earlier than settling firmly in illustration, starting with self-portraits and later venturing into nonetheless life. A part of that call got here from a need to make work with a number of entry factors. A viewer might respect the fragile interaction of sunshine and shadow in “Aura,” for instance, with out having a sturdy information of Korean porcelain traditions. However, just like the tiny scenes the artist tucks into the perimeters of work, in his work, there’s all the time extra to be discovered by taking a re-assessment.

Ahn is deeply engaged with artwork historical past and the ceramic practices of his native Korea. His vessels usually evoke the white porcelain ware of the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910), elegant kinds evoking the purity and minimalism of Neo-Confucianist thought. Cobalt motifs and a blue tinge later emerged as a uncommon and extremely valued twist on the normal vessels.

Though Ahn not works in self-portraiture, his works are all the time autobiographical and reflective of what’s occurring in his life. As he opens his solo exhibition, Good Issues Take Time, this week at Harper’s Gallery in New York, he’s extra hopeful than he has been for some time.

a front and side view of a green painting depicting a moth and its shadow flying above a porcelain shard on a dowel. the shard depicts part of a red moth. the side of the wooden frame is cut away in two places to reveal lit taper candles
“Twin Flame” (2024)

Ahn’s father was identified with most cancers in 2020, and the artist spent the final 4 years processing the information and grieving. “It actually affected the truth of issues,” he shared. “My work was all over. I used to be making work. I used to be making sculptures. The picture was probably not there, and it was not cohesive. I used to be simply mentally not steady on the time, possibly a bit of too depressed.”

Then final 12 months, Ahn determined to scrap the work he made and start anew. Reasonably than face the huge, if not daunting, white house of a clean canvas, he began small by portray a taper candle on the facet body. “It was a really meditative course of. Candles are associated to meditation and maintain quite a lot of emotion. It was actually calming for me,” he provides.

He started to carve away sections of frames to disclose smaller works throughout the bigger composition. Right this moment, his studio is bisected to create a clear house for portray and one other for his woodshop. Ahn is reflective and extremely targeted, and he works on each elements of a composition concurrently, fostering a relentless dialog between portray and sculpture.

Candles characteristic prominently on this new physique of labor and provide a counterpoint to the typically somber components of the artist’s work. Symbols of hope and heat, the flames softly illuminate the vestiges of a vessel or the beveled edges of a picket body.

the side and front of a painting with a pottery shard portraying part of a red butterfly. the side of the wood frame is cut out to show a red flower growing with green leaves that wrap around to the front of the canvas
“Symbiosis” (2024)

Equally, the butterflies and moths painted on the pottery shards are met with full of life bugs that, within the case of “Twin Flame,” forged a shadow as they flutter throughout the canvas. He provides:

I select to depict bugs not solely as a result of they seem in a few of the objects I reference, however as a result of they nearly really feel like a common language, just like how candles are among the many most simply recognizable objects. I need my works to be approachable and alluring to all audiences no matter their background.

Though they include remnants of earlier our bodies of labor, these new work mark a turning level. “I believe I’m carried out with the actually unhappy disappointment,” the artist says. “It’s shiny, nearly glad. There’s hope this time.”

Good Issues Take Time is on view by December 7. Discover extra from the artist on Instagram.

the front and side of a still life portraying a porcelain vessel with blue flowers on it. two white taper candles are depicted on the left and right sides of the vessel with another on the side of the canvas
“Aura” (2024)
a detail of a the side and front of a painting with a pottery shard portraying part of a red butterfly. the side of the wood frame is cut out to show a red flower growing with green leaves that wrap around to the front of the canvas
Element of “Symbiosis” (2024)
a gray-brown painting with a taper candle nested in an oval opening and a pottery shard depicting part of an insect
“Good Issues Take Time (2)” (2024)
a front and side view of a green painting depicting a moth and its shadow flying above a porcelain shard on a dowel. the shard depicts part of a red moth. the side of the wooden frame is cut away in two places to reveal lit taper candles
Element of “Twin Flame” (2024)
a painted linen canvas with a pottery fragment and red butterfly with a similar, real terracotta fragment next to it all in a walnut fram
“Good Issues Take Time (3)” (2024)



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