Dohgyoung Ahn Analysis
I once took a Psychology course at Purdue that expanded my curiosity of how the mind operates. The human mind is a complex and intricate machine that is the pivotal foundation of our everyday thought process. As I was searching for a gallery to visit this week, I was astounded to realize I have never been to Pao Hall of Visual and Performing Arts before. Compared to the Engineering buildings, Pao Hall is more imaginative and aesthetic, a conclusion I easily derived based upon the decorative sculptures outside the building. Upon arriving at the Patti and Rusty Rueff Gallery, I was pleasantly surprised to see DohGyoung Ahn’s paintings in the West Gallery. When viewing DohGyoung Ahn’s Negotiating Duality, one can see a theme of fragmentation with a hint of darkness. Dohgyoung Ahn excels in visualizing and preserving the immaterial and ephemeral conversations that take place within the minds. The artworks of Dohgyoung Ahn provoke a sense of apprehensiveness through articulated disfigurement of the human body and stimulate an intense representation of fragmented internal dialogues. The subject matter of Ahn’s paintings involve
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discombobulated human-like figures. The 14 paintings in the gallery are depicted with the use of light pastel and predominate black colors, creating a sense of ambiguity. The white walls of the gallery strengthens the paintings by forming a juxtaposition – the paintings appear more striking compared to the banal setting. The difference in the colors intensity the chaos that characterize the human experience. The simply usage of a black background creates a depth of field, almost as if viewers are able to simply walk into the darkness of the paintings themselves. 12 of the 14 paintings are aligned perfectly on two separate walls. Their sizes are all identical, probably 12 in x 12 in, creating a symmetrical repetition within the gallery. The two main paintings are larger in scale and darker in terms of content. The positioning of the paintings inside the reserved small gallery is a pivotal aspect of aesthetic appeal of the exhibition. Ahn’s paintings suggest a deeper meaning to mankind - a subtle reminder that internal dialogues are filtered because of our environment. Because internal dialogues are cannot be fully described through spoken words or written language, Ahn illustrastes internal dialogues through art. The black background colors and dark hand figures represent the diabolical and sullen notions that humans’ dialogues are constrained by the society we live in. Ahn’s compositions reveal the various states of fragmentation. As humans, we are negotiating our emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual experiences. I was reluctant to deduce that Ahn’s representation of inner dialogue include some gloomy content. All the face figures in the paintings have their eyes shut while dark shapes and colors are permeated throughout the figures, suggesting uneasiness and discomfort. I believe that Ahn’s paintings rekindled the spirit of cubism and modern art of Pablo Picasso.
The style of Negotiating Duality is homogenous to Picasso’s disconcerting and unconventional paintings. My attempt to ascertain and compare the two style of paintings can be condensed into contrasting Ahn’s work to Picasso’s masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In Les Demoisellse d’Avignon, arguably Picasso’s magnum opus, the women have menacing and unproportioned body shapes. Likewise, Ahn’s paintings showcase twisted arms, incomplete torsos, and abnormal heads, all eerily disconnected. Many of Pablo Picasso’s artworks are enshrined as the epitomes of the Cubism art movement. Both Picasso’s and Ahn’s artworks are unorthodox paintings; Nevertheless, both prove that however bizarre a painting is, it can be still be enticing and
thought-provoking. DohGyoung Ahn’s Negotiating Duality exemplified the complex inner thoughts of human beings while dwelling with a perplexed form of sinister subject. Some of the artworks in Negotiating Duality can be associated with the eminent artworks of Picasso. The exhibition beautifully demonstrates the complex internal dialogue with consistency and interconnection between the 14 paintings. Though Ahn described the human experience to be not always cohesive, his paintings in the gallery are most definitely unified.
discombobulated human-like figures. The 14 paintings in the gallery are depicted with the use of light pastel and predominate black colors, creating a sense of ambiguity. The white walls of the gallery strengthens the paintings by forming a juxtaposition – the paintings appear more striking compared to the banal setting. The difference in the colors intensity the chaos that characterize the human experience. The simply usage of a black background creates a depth of field, almost as if viewers are able to simply walk into the darkness of the paintings themselves. 12 of the 14 paintings are aligned perfectly on two separate walls. Their sizes are all identical, probably 12 in x 12 in, creating a symmetrical repetition within the gallery. The two main paintings are larger in scale and darker in terms of content. The positioning of the paintings inside the reserved small gallery is a pivotal aspect of aesthetic appeal of the exhibition. Ahn’s paintings suggest a deeper meaning to mankind - a subtle reminder that internal dialogues are filtered because of our environment. Because internal dialogues are cannot be fully described through spoken words or written language, Ahn illustrastes internal dialogues through art. The black background colors and dark hand figures represent the diabolical and sullen notions that humans’ dialogues are constrained by the society we live in. Ahn’s compositions reveal the various states of fragmentation. As humans, we are negotiating our emotional, intellectual, physical, and spiritual experiences. I was reluctant to deduce that Ahn’s representation of inner dialogue include some gloomy content. All the face figures in the paintings have their eyes shut while dark shapes and colors are permeated throughout the figures, suggesting uneasiness and discomfort. I believe that Ahn’s paintings rekindled the spirit of cubism and modern art of Pablo Picasso.
The style of Negotiating Duality is homogenous to Picasso’s disconcerting and unconventional paintings. My attempt to ascertain and compare the two style of paintings can be condensed into contrasting Ahn’s work to Picasso’s masterpiece, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon. In Les Demoisellse d’Avignon, arguably Picasso’s magnum opus, the women have menacing and unproportioned body shapes. Likewise, Ahn’s paintings showcase twisted arms, incomplete torsos, and abnormal heads, all eerily disconnected. Many of Pablo Picasso’s artworks are enshrined as the epitomes of the Cubism art movement. Both Picasso’s and Ahn’s artworks are unorthodox paintings; Nevertheless, both prove that however bizarre a painting is, it can be still be enticing and
thought-provoking. DohGyoung Ahn’s Negotiating Duality exemplified the complex inner thoughts of human beings while dwelling with a perplexed form of sinister subject. Some of the artworks in Negotiating Duality can be associated with the eminent artworks of Picasso. The exhibition beautifully demonstrates the complex internal dialogue with consistency and interconnection between the 14 paintings. Though Ahn described the human experience to be not always cohesive, his paintings in the gallery are most definitely unified.