For Frieze Seoul 2022, Whistle will feature a selection of new paintings by artist Hejum Bä. Bä's work focuses on the relationship structures and systems formed through chained action in the abstract painting process, and the ensuing possibilities of tacit communication. The artist refers to the central concept of this process as a 'plot,' the narrative structure that comprises, connects, and guides the dynamics of its contained elements. However, unlike traditional methods of abstraction, Bä's work is detached from a concrete subject. It demonstrates instead defined interaction between colour fields and seeks a gradual and natural conclusion. In her work, meaning occurs in the moment of impact of form and colour, and the image generated therein.
On view at Frieze, the painting Resolute Tracker (2022) is representative of Bä's bold use of colour and systemic thought-approach. A continuation of the works presented in her 2021 solo exhibition PLOTLESS (Kumho Museum of Art), it starts from a single image that is rendered distinctive by its organic settling of elements. In the steady manifestation of abstract reasoning and the materialised synchronisation of form and thought upon the canvas, the painting develops its own system of order and pictorial identity at Bä's hand.
As an artist, Bä seeks to continue and to realise an undefined state of completion—to track it. This attitude is reflected in the painting's title. Titling a work is an extension of her process of abstraction, which is an open-ended pursuit of concluding force and cryptic communication. Through the repetition of iconography and gesture, her work constructs systems of connection and incites sense reaction with its visual dynamics.
Hejum Bä (b.1987) graduated from Ewha Womans University's Painting/Printmaking program and received her diploma at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design. In 2021 she held solo exhibitions at Whistle, Kumho Museum of Art and SeMA Storage, respectively, with another at OCI Museum of Art in 2018. She has participated in group shows such as Young Korean Artists 2021 at MMCA, DOOSAN Gallery, HITE Collection.