YOUNG-IL AHN, JOHN HENDERSON, SHIM MOON-SEUP

SLOW WAVE SLEEP Perrotin 16 January–21 February 2026 New York

Press Release

Perrotin New York is pleased to present Slow Wave Sleep, a four-person painting exhibition organized by John Henderson. The exhibition approaches abstract painting as an externalized form of memory consolidation through which individual marks are collected and held transfixed within the picture plane for future recall. Across the works on view, the painters’ processes are slow and deliberate, often creating unexpected effects and meaning that become larger than the sum of their parts.

Young-Il Ahn’s (born 1934 in Gaeseong, Korea, died 2020 in Los Angeles, CA) luminous abstractions are rooted in his lifelong fascination with water and light. Having moved to Los Angeles in 1966, Ahn found enduring inspiration in the California coast. His defining Water series emerged from a profound 1983 encounter at sea, when he became lost in fog and witnessed the ocean surface endlessly transforming with light. Through layered brushwork and rhythmic color, Ahn translated these meditative observations into paintings that merge perception, memory, and emotion. In 2017, he became the first Korean-American artist to have a solo exhibition at LACMA, affirming his legacy as a pioneering voice in postwar abstraction.

Anna-Eva Bergman’s (born 1909 in Stockholm, Sweden, died 1987 in Grasse, France) poetic abstractions merge the grandeur of Nordic landscapes with a spiritual quest for light and form. Trained in Oslo, Vienna, and Paris, she developed a distinct visual language inspired by nature’s elemental shapes—stones, mountains, moons, and horizons—rendered in gold and silver leaf. Deeply influenced by the luminous vastness of Norway and the principles of geometry, her work embodies a serene balance between structure and transcendence. From the 1950s onward, Bergman’s refined use of metallic surfaces and minimal forms positioned her among the key figures in postwar European abstraction, culminating in the legacy of the Hartung-Bergman Foundation in Antibes.

John Henderson’s (born 1984 in Minneapolis, MN, lives and works in Chicago, IL) engagement with abstract painting makes use of a variety of technologies and techniques—molds, castings, digital printing, video, and photography—Henderson reforms, revises, and reproduces the manual painterly expression in order to invoke a tension between authenticity and reproduction, immediacy and distance. His work is held in public collections including Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Shim Moon-Seup (born 1943 in Korea, lives and works in Korea) is a pioneering figure in modern Korean sculpture whose practice centers on the dialogue between nature, time, and material. Working fluidly across sculpture, installation, and performance, he explores the harmony and tension between the organic and the human-made, giving form to the passage of time through stone, wood, and earth. Internationally recognized for his contributions to contemporary art, Shim has exhibited widely—from the Venice Biennale to the Guggenheim Museum—and was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2007. His work embodies a meditative balance between permanence and impermanence, echoing the rhythm of nature itself.