BEARSPACE

BEARSPACE is pleased to present MECHA, new large scale drawings and metal plate etchings by Korean artist Seung Pyo Hong, in his first ever solo exhibition. Seung graduated from Goldsmiths in 2009, and has recently exhibited at the South Korean Embassy.

Hong has created a range of new works for the exhibition MECHA. Having previously worked in a variety of mediums, including installation, oil pastels and etching, Hong has produced a collection of hand drawings and paintings, combining a number of production methods creating his own personal style.

This new body of work is concerned with process. Hong grew up in South Korea, surrounded by machinery and mechanical processes associated with his families business. As he observed machinery becoming more powerful and advanced, he likened this to an evolution, becoming interested in Charles Darwin’s theories, comparing the mechanisms around him to animals. A plane became a bird, a submarine a fish, the machines like wildlife. The evolution of animals dependant on natural condition and selection. Hong observed the factors involved in mechanical evolution; politics, culture, power and commerce. This juxtaposition led him to explore animals and machines, and prompted new drawings on mechanical animal organs.

Hong believes that our natural habitat is now made up of technology and machinery, as opposed to a natural environment, and that this environment is affective and influential within our lives, eventually becoming our reason for evolution. The artist has created a comment on the current social and economic world, through the anthropomorphism of the machinery he depicts, presenting ideas of conflict, opposition, metamorphosis and process.

Using a unique combination of drawing, etching, painting and printing the artist produces another juxtaposition within his work, Hong starts the process by producing hand drawn plans with a fluid and organic method of working. These drawings are transferred on to a metal plate in preparation for etching, the printing process and materials mechanical and emotionless.

MECHA is a prelude to a major exhibition of Seung Pyo Hong's work at the Paik Hae Young Gallery, in Seoul, South Korea.