Woo Jung Ghil: Savouring Silence
February 4 - March 14, Kearsey & Gold
Woo Jung Ghil, Reclaim 5
Woo Jung Ghil’s work is like stepping foot into a dreamscape. Her paintings are surreal yet incredibly graceful—they are unified in an air of quietude molded by muted pastels and carefully rendered organic shapes and textures. Her show Savouring Silence at Kearsey & Gold encourages audiences to just do this: savour silence. What does it truly mean to confront our fear of solitude? What could be discovered when we quiet our minds? Woo Jung Ghil has confronted this fear, and in turn has discovered a world of shape and color that is completely her own– a pocket reality of solace through the intermingling of paint, canvas, and reflection. Throughout all her pieces there is an impeccable sense of light and space, despite her crafting of an environment that seems otherworldly, untouchable. While abstract in composition, the artist’s personal hand and self-reflective nature seems to linger beneath each canvas.
There is a sort of feminine stillness that is present within this body of work. This is particularly evident in Reclaim 5, the painting depicting two pearl-like spheres, they incandescently reside like mother and daughter on the canvas. The large, uppermost sphere has been painted in soft layers of salmon and rose, and faintly reflects a muted green hue that encases the smaller pearl in a dome at the bottom of the canvas. The smaller pearl is less illuminated than the larger; it is shadowed in silver, with small streaks of light cascading beneath it, two yellow specks frame the sphere to its left and right. The large pearl sits atop a tub-like structure, the smaller resting at the bottom of this white rectangle. Between the two objects is a string of light– it weaves in and out of the bottom of the pink pearl and extends to the edges of the canvas. One cannot help but be reminded of celestial bodies, of ethereal images of magic hour or a sunset on a sea. Condensation of Memories 5, with a gently falling dust of sparkle, is reminiscent of the Greek myth of Danae– Zeus revealing himself in the form of golden rain.
Walking through the space of the gallery is truly like walking through an unfamiliar planet of repose, or an illusive daydream. While each piece embodies a unique, singular landscape, there is a sense of cohesion in their shared motifs of flecks of light, half-moon crescents, glowing spheres, and washes of paint bleeding into canvas. The show’s title is fitting: it is an encouragement and a challenge. We oftentimes take for granted quiet moments when we are encompassed by what is oftentimes a very loud world. But reflection is necessary, and silence should be savoured.
Woo Jung Ghil: Savouring Silence is on until the 14th of March at Kearsey & Gold in Mayfair, London.
Woo Jung Ghil, Eternal State of Mind 3
Woo Jung Ghil, Savouring Silence 32
Woo Jung Ghil, Condensation of Memories 5
Woo Jung Ghil, Reclaim 7
