CHOI&CHOI Gallery Cologne presents ‘Someone’ by Ung-Pil Byen. This exhibition marks the artist’s return to Germany after his initial stay from the summer of 1996 to the spring of 2006. The exhibition showcases a series of portraits that have become synonymous with his oeuvre, featuring simplified and enigmatic faces.
"I both love and hate people.
People are everything in this world, and you can't do anything without them."
Ung-Pil Byen has always focused on painting faces, initially producing realistic self-portraits after graduating from Kunstakademie Münster. During his earlier stay in Germany nearly two decades ago, he explored themes of self-identity, particularly reflecting on his experience as a visible outsider in his surroundings. Back then, his oil paintings depicted his own face with a high degree of realism, yet with certain elements distorted and omitted, imparting a sense of mystery and ambiguity. Thus, while his oil painting techniques were distinctly Western, they incorporated Eastern painting philosophy of omission. This approach was his attempt to present different versions of himself to the world, questioning what separates him from others—what separates ‘us’ from ‘them.’
Since returning to Korea, his work has evolved into a more refined style. The faces he now creates are more conceptual than representational. They are scarcely recognizable as self-portraits, composed of lines and blocks of color that form simplified images bordering on Pop Art. The figures originate from his earlier drawings that depict “the most basic suggestion of a human figure,” signaling a shift "from a focus on the technical reproduction of subjects to more painterly expression.”
In a sense, these abstract figures further his earlier practice of distortion and omission. They have become equalized and obscured to the point of being unrecognizable as anyone in particular; they have become a mere ‘someone’. As his own position transitioned from being an ‘outsider’ to an ‘insider’ after his return to his homeland, he no longer needs to present his own face in comparison to the outside world. If his earlier self-portraits utilized his own self-image to explore the human condition, now it is the fundamental idea itself—of ‘Someone’—that carries the discussion forward. With this shift, his subjects have become more universal, evoking scenes and scenarios that resonate with the someones of the world.
"I always hoped that after returning to Korea, I would eventually have another exhibition in Germany.
Living day by day as an artist in Korea, it took a long time for that hope to become a reality.
Now as the exhibition draws near, I feel both the anticipation and the weight of it all.
And I am reminded of how fleeting time can be. This is just the beginning."
