The solo exhibition from artist Han Jin, titled Vexations, borrows its title from the piano work Vexations by composer Erik Satie. The sheet music for this song is a single page, and the musician plays the song—which contains no measures—by 'very slowly' repeating the work 840 times in accordance with the musical notation. The performance takes approximately 18 hours. Regardless of whether one is the listener or the musician, being trapped in such an 18-hour repeating performance would likely be rather bothersome. Therefore, time and space are made to change from moment to moment via the mingling of sounds made by the performer and the audience. Moreover, Satie used the word 'vexations,' which means 'bothersome,' for the title of his work.

This exhibition adopts the almost violent name of Vexations for the exhibition title because the encounter with the object can be described as an 'event.' It isn't something that comes and goes quietly when one wants; rather, it appears at unexpected moments and in unexpected ways, and it can never be forgotten. In some ways, this is similar to the way Deleuze discusses the operation of thought. Thought does not work through the will, but rather arrives suddenly, like an accident. It demands complete passivity in relation to the object, and thereby blurs the distinction between subject and object. By gazing at a landscape, the artist does not come to possess the landscape; rather, the artist experiences the temporary unity of the respective rhythms of the landscape and the artist.

The sheet music for Erik Satie's Vexations reads, 'In order to play the theme 840 times in succession, it would be advisable to prepare oneself beforehand, and in the deepest silence, by serious immobility.' More than a musical instruction regarding pace and rhythm, this note reads more as an overall attitude toward making music. It is as if it says, 'Slowly find one note after another, and think about how it resonates; then, quietly focus while preparing for the next note.' For artist Han Jin, 'painting' means repeatedly inscribing on the body the rhythms discovered in the landscapes that come to them while patiently coming to terms with their substance and friction and preparing for what may come next. At this exhibition, the artist reveals their attitude toward these drawings within a three-dimensional space. Within the exhibition hall, the artist presents their own drawings, videos, and wall drawings, which are the result of the artist staring again at a sound produced at the intersection of 'space as time' and 'physical space.' The artist enables the movement of the work and the audience as well as time and space to emerge as one visual scene, completing the performance of the work.

Press release courtesy ONE AND J. Gallery.