Galerie Stephanie is thrilled to participate in the 12th edition of Art Busan, presenting works by Indonesian surrealist painter Roby Dwi Antono, Filipino contemporary artists Pat Frades, GNCH, Genavee Lazaro, Gabby Prado, and South Korean landscape painter Hae Ryun. This group exhibition marks the gallery’s second participation in the fair. Art Busan will run from 4 to 7 May 2023 at the BEXCO Exhibition Center in Busan, South Korea.

In this presentation, a collection of paintings and sculptures transcend notions of colour and consciousness; sublime, introspective pieces coerce the viewer into a transformative experience featuring distinct works akin to each artist’s oeuvre and hometown, gathering pieces from different points of Asia.

Known for her definite style that combines traditional Korean painting techniques with modern elements, Hae Ryun presents six new oil on canvas paintings from her Season of the Wind series, all depicting the sounds of the earth enmeshed with intricate patterns inspired by nature, mythology, and deeply personal experiences. 

For Gabby Prado, a Filipina visual artist who draws inspiration from memory, her latest works take from the concept of the bahay kubo—a traditional hut often found in the province made of local bamboo and materials indigenous to the Philippines—located at the back of her home, and a spectrum of colours merging French and Filipino colours. These pieces evoke nostalgia, manifested by Prado’s longing for the quiet countryside and translated musings, reminiscent of childhood trips to her province in Pampanga to watch the procession during Holy Week.

Sculptor Genavee Lazaro presents stoneware sculptures strongly tethered to her relocation to San Juan, La Union, a vibrant surftown located several hours north from Manila. Essence of the local community and slow-paced days influenced the artist’s deliberately unglazed pieces, imbibing the town’s unique culture: a tribute to the beauty found in everyday life captured in each playful, meditative cacti-persona, “like a caveman documenting history.”

Pat Frades’ whimsical pieces don a brighter, pastel-coloured palette with her signature subject: clusters of mushrooms that seem to overflow, creeping through its natural growth patterns. Frades’ fascination with the growth and co-existence of fungi with nature implies the certainty of life and death, providing an infesting, meditative aura complemented by botanical elements depicted in her chosen medium, air-dry clay.

The intimate paintings by Roby Dwi Antono, an artist hailing from the Indonesian archipelago whose works convey a fusion of surrealism and pop-culture, depict a strange and haunting stillness that lulls the viewer into a depth found on each canvas. Drawing attention to the characters’ eyes as a window to the soul, a sense of the profoundly unknown occurs; the mystery of emotion and its weight surface across their faces, both works barely revealing but keeping the intensity of an implied inner world.

GNCH’s recent dystopian pieces visualize eccentric animals rendered in bold colours and standing upright, almost as if under a firing squad. The hyperrealist depiction long-developed by the self-taught artist allows a softness identified in the characters, an odd juxtaposition to the stance they hold. In these figures, one may acquire a comforting understanding reminiscent of childhood. 

Text by Meg Genuino