Traces on the Surface: Kim Hong Joo

S2A is pleased to present the year 2026 with its first exhibition, “Kim Hong Joo: Traces on the Surface”, on view from January 27 to March 14. This solo exhibition is curated to illuminate the artistic journey of master painter Kim Hong Joo, who has devoted decades to exploring the fundamental nature of painting while establishing a singular and uncompromising body of work.

Prior to any conventional distinctions between painting, sculpture, or object, Kim Hong Joo has persistently investigated how images exist within both pictorial surfaces and physical space. Rather than adhering to a fixed formal language, his practice has consistently traversed the boundaries between image and object, flatness and volume.

In his works from the 1970s—one of the exhibition’s key focal points—images are not confined to specific representational forms but merge with everyday entities such as mirrors, windows, and door frames, attaining a sense of materiality. The subsequent fine-line paintings, while realized on a two-dimensional plane, do not seek to represent external subjects. Instead, countless delicate lines are patiently layered onto thin fabric, encapsulating the passage of time and the artist’s tactile gestures. The forms that emerge are not carriers of predetermined messages, but traces left by the performative process itself, offering viewers an expansive field for imagination.

Featuring 19 representative works, spanning from his object-based works of the 1970s to his later paintings, the exhibition highlights Kim Hong Joo’s sustained painterly inquiry from a contemporary perspective. Through surfaces imbued with meditative discipline and heightened sensibility, the exhibition proposes a profound visual experience—one that invites viewers to confront the essence of painting itself.