GALLERY AFTERNOON

Gallery Afternoon is pleased to announce 𝑼𝑵𝑻𝑰𝑻𝑳𝑬𝑫 group exhibition featuring up-and-coming international artists, from February 4 to 25. Gallery Afternoon will be hosting 7 artists-Adam Handler, Kai, Kameko Kameo, Keigo Nakamura, Leoz Weng, Peter Jeppson, and Ryol-hailing from Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, the United States, and Sweden.

Exhibiting without a banner or title, the 7 artists bring their unique personalities and experiments of image and form, traversing borders and languages that identify but also contain and limit their practices. Together and separate, we look forward to exciting new inspirations to be encountered and explored. Gallery Afternoon is particularly pleased to note that this exhibition will be the first (of many) in Korea for several of the presenting artists.

Please stay tuned for updates, as more exhibition details will follow very soon.

Adam Handler (b.1986) is a dreamy painter born in Queens NY. His dynamic works explore themes of coping with love, loss, and suffering, as well as its fears and anxieties. A vaguely familiar puerile apparition is a recurring figure in his works, iterated in the way rainbows are repeated in children’s drawings; Handler's works guilelessly embrace the unknown. The pastel-rose cheeks of the imagined idyllic spirits and the stories they inhabit glow with warmth that heal those in wanting.

Chimeral monsters with traits of both traditional East Asian dokkebi(chaos-goblins) and various Anglian monsters are set before backdrops of black and white. KAI has not publicly made known their personal details, including sex and gender, or even nationality. Choosing only to be made known through the furry monstrosities without the superfluous narrative associated with the creator.

With minimal distraction from associated text or premise, the not-so-abominable monsters are depicted with hyper-realistic fur, horns, claws, and even curious starry eyes fixed on something just out of frame.

Kameko Kameo is based in Japan with indigenous influences from Japan’s thriving manga, animation, and related subcultures–the artist’s alias as a hint. The artist created in digital format until 2020, when roller-applied acrylic paint was used for background depictions.

The artist's subjectivity is projected unto the ashen world and the recurring quippy girlish figure. Kameko Kameo shares that the present is constantly transitional, and what is presented is the result of anecdotal experiences, feelings, and situations.

Keigo Nakamura (b.1984) expresses their conviction of what consists a meaningful life. The candle-lit shadow-cast composition seen in Nakamura's works are inspired and informed by the pious paintings by Georges de La Tour, a 17th century French Baroque painter, Caravaggist. Ornate Baroque frames often frame these compositions to signify “blessings for life”, according to Nakamura. The custom-designed frames are integral to the presentation, hand-fisnished and vintage-turned for each specific painting to be framed. The artist’s traditional approach to painting as an ode to what has been lost to the hustle and bustle of modern mundane.

Peter Jeppson (b.1985) is a visual artist based in Stockholm, Sweden. Working mainly with oils with a spattering of acryls and airbrush, his ideas verge on the possibility of objects–like pencils, buckets, various fruits and vegetables–being conscious and with spirit.

Cartoon characters such as Mickey Mouse and SpongeBob SquarePants are cultural references that echo through much of his works.

The wriggly-textured objects come alive with texture and feeling, the coarse surface and decadent humor quickly segueing deeper into strata of uncertain feelings and ambiguous perceptions.

Ryol (b.1993) is a visual artist currently based in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The artist cites childhood TV programs as his primary influences that have borne the charmingly whimsical and surreal characters he draws. Other allusions to popular culture are found in his works, including comics and advertisements. His works feature a variety of wide-eyed characters, sometimes tinged with dolefulness or sheer naivety of a child. The complex color tones and layered composition add a degree of surreal ‘pop’. Ryol's seemingly frivolous works betray his mulling over a broad range interests, from exploring society’s fraternal structures to concepts of gender roles today.