The Auckland-based artist Seung Yul Oh has long been interested in activating space, playing with boundaries and the movement of energy.

Oh has an instantly recognisable and idiosyncratic practice that encompasses painting, installation, sculpture, video, and performance art. Combining elements of East Asian pop culture with ironic references to ‘highbrow’ Western art history, he is well known for whimsical works that toy with scale and exist somewhere between spectacle and participation. Seung’s more formal painting practice is rooted in the post-war Korean tradition of Tansaekhwa (Dansaekhwa).
While literally meaning ‘monochrome painting’, Tansaekhwa emphasises the meditative aspect of creating art, focusing on growth and layering rather than ‘emptiness’. Seung’s reductionist and geometric compositions allow for both vivid contrast and subtle nuance. He says: “I’m interested in the relationship between colours, their tension or rhythm. There’s uncertainty and dialogue when these colours are joined”.
Intriguingly the artist also sees his colour selections as creating time and space. Juxtaposing unusual combinations and tonal contrasts, he calculates their effects, “trying to reach a place of time through colour.” Some colours allow time to linger longer or deeper. I may simply feel more with certain colours, remembering a moment or connecting to other unknown time.”

This painting practice adheres to a formative and often minimalistic structure. It is characterised by its deliberate emphasis on the periphery, extending the viewer's gaze towards the outer regions of the canvas. By deftly adjusting perspective and equilibrium, it provides a distinctive examination of spatial dynamics and visual boundaries, challenging the constraints of traditional artistic conventions to draw attention the frequently neglected zones on the canvas.

Courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite Gallery.