Hyun Yoon
Born in Seoul (1980) and based in London since 2012, my practice has developed through three disciplines.
History, Design, and Abstraction.
These were not separate careers, but stages in how I learned to see and understand the world.
/ / / History and the Layers of Time / / /
I studied History at KHU in Seoul from 1998 to 2003. That training shaped how I think about time, not as something linear, but layered. When I work on a canvas, I do not experience it as a flat surface. I experience it as accumulation.
I build paint slowly, layer over layer. Some marks disappear, some remain visible. In that process, the surface begins to hold memory. The act of painting becomes a way of recording time rather than illustrating an image.
/ / / Design and Structure / / /
After studying at SADI (2006–2009) and working for years as a designer in London, I developed a sense of structure and proportion.
My paintings may appear intuitive, but they are not accidental. There is always an internal framework.
I am interested in the tension between control and release, between what is planned and what emerges unexpectedly.
/ / / Abstraction as a Way of Seeing / / /
For me, abstraction is not a style. It is the most honest way I know to process experience.
During the pandemic, I moved fully into fine art. It allowed me to step away from function and focus on perception.
Through abstraction, I try to hold both clarity and uncertainty at once, the factual and the emotional, the visible and the sensed. Painting becomes a space where these opposites can exist together.
Selected Exhibitions & Media
ㅁ Shortlisted, RA summer exhibition 2026
ㅁ The Other Art Fair London 2026
ㅁ Memento Amoris, The Lido Stores Margate 2026
ㅁ Higly Commended, The Homiens Art Prize 2025
ㅁ Longlist of ArtEvol 2025, 2025
ㅁ 'Echoes' Art inspired by Nature, Conversations with Artists, 2025
ㅁ Suboart Magazine issue 39/40, 2025
ㅁ Affordable Art Fair, Jackson's Art Prize, Hampstead 2024
ㅁ Abstract Vol 2, Royal Blue Gallery 2024
ㅁ Jackson's Art Prize, Pastel Award, Bankside Gallery 2024
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