Hwang Do You: Alice in Wonderland

The 8th solo exhibition, <Alice in Wonderland> by artist Do You Hwang, at Kimreeaa Gallery will be held from August 25 to September 24, 2022. In this exhibition Hwang presents a total of 28 paintings, You may also view the works of the artist at the ‘Korea International Art Fair Plus’ held during the exhibition period. 

Internal Alice in Wonderland

Do You Hwang has been working on a series of works, ‘Alice in Wonderland’ for nearly 10 years. The bizarre beauty of Alice, who seems to exist in a dreamy landscape, has been continuously accumulated in the new world of expression that artist Do You Hwang is constantly advancing. Although the artist is drawing the same subject, powerful strokes appear through long-time consideration of expressive techiniques with concise brushstrokes, and magical colors are added. Alice in Wonderland, completed with beautiful colors and powerful strokes, leads the audience into a strange space.  

Traces left by the artist

The rough and concise strokes and rather mysterious colors in Do You Hwang’s work are the results of the artist’s contemplation of pictorial expression. The traces that appeared on the canvas through the tip of the brush and the surface of the canvas left untouched by the artist except for the background are all traces of the artist’s enthusiasm for better painting. 

The ‘Alice in Wonderland’ series which started about 10 years ago, was a work that allowed the artist to show or hide the entire process by overlapping layers of paint with a transparent medium in between. Audiences could view the work as if they were traveling through a dreamy landscape. The ‘Thirty-three Flower Blossoms’ series, which the artist has been focusing on since 2019, is drawn in more concise ways with no overlapping and reducing the number of brush strokes which does not create layers of paint. Due to the concise strokes, we were able to focus on the powerful strokes that the artist uses. Alice disappeared from the picture and that dreamy scene of nature was abstract. In these paintings, the audience could imagine Alice, who seemed to be wandering around.  

In the works presented at this exhibition, Hwang grants  ‘Alice in Wonderland’ to wander through the landscape of ‘Thirty-three Flower Blossoms’. 

Adventure into the bizarre landscape

For Do You Hwang, painting is perceived as an adventure, like Alice’s adventures in Wonderland. The existence of Alice has always been wandering through the works of Hwang. However, the artist’s expressive technique of depicting Alice and the landscape is always full of new adventures. And this adventure of the artist always leads audiences to a new space. 

“Oh, you’re sure to do that. If you only walk long enough” _ Lewis Carroll <Alice in wonderland>