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Homeward bound Here lies an image on which life is based, rather than an image based on life. A world where life and its vicissitudes becomes an image.<\/p>\n In his practice, Taewon Ahn has repeatedly depicted living, breathing beings, surviving if not thriving, within the uncertainties and uncanniness of the world. Hiro, the artist\u2019s muse and the central figure in the exhibition, Sync<\/em>, becomes the vector through which the artist views his daily life and the digital world. Hiro is both Ahn\u2019s world-image and simultaneously a transformational being which the world-image reflects. The boundary between what is inhabited in the real and what is represented as an image no longer carries a particular meaning. Instead, Ahn embraces the spaces to which each resides, and materialises their parallel existences, synchronising them.2<\/sup> The images of Hiro and the Seoul home where the artist and Hiro live, if not the exhibition itself, are overlayed in the new paintings and sculptures. These three spaces, placed within reach, invite viewers to the waypoint where Ahn will continuously return, heading homeward.<\/p>\n The process of translating the image of the real Hiro into paintings and sculptures is similar to capturing the materiality of the image. It begins with photographing and then distorting the texture, curvature and appearance of the image, similar to the process of making a meme. Hiro can indeed be \u2018anywhere\u2019. The layering of the image onto the surface of the object is primarily done using an airbrush. Here, \u2018object\u2019 refers to a real target of specific width, volume, and weight, and \u2018surface\u2019 refers to the exterior face of that object, encompassing various categories from canvas to wooden panels, epoxy, and urethane foam. However, while past works transformed Hiro into a two or three dimensional object, with the form following the image, the new works capture Hiro\u2019s appearance whilst incorporating integrated accidents. For example, in the series, Hiro 1-14<\/em>, Ahn utilises soft urethane foam, which has a varied expansion rate, and builds up multiple layers of thin acrylic paint. The surface naturally forms an undulating flow-like texture as it dries, where the artist then lays Hiro\u2019s appearance like a veil over the accumulated surface shapes.3<\/sup>Each artwork\u2019s finished result is dependent on the time it took for layers of urethane foam and paint to dry, each layer mixing or separating in different ways.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I wish I was homeward bound
Home, where my thought\u2019s escaping
Home, where my music\u2019s playing
Home, where my love lies waiting silently for me
\u2014Simon & Garfunkel, Homeward Bound<\/em>1<\/sup><\/p>\n