In September, Korean-born, New York-based artist Hyon Gyon was in Hong Kong for her first solo show in the city. The exhibition “Cruel World” was mounted at Ben Brown Fine Arts, where the artist presented mixed-media works, sculptures and an installation that embody ideas of shamanism enmeshed within. Ten of her creations were shown in the gallery, intoning her commentary on human desires.

Hyon Gyon trained in painting at Kyoto City University of Arts before moving to New York City in 2013. Her artworks hook into the spiritual precepts of Korean Shamanism, with visual inspiration from Japanese ukiyo-e wood block prints. She creates abstract artworks that mesh these two traditions, eluding straightforward definition. Often, her goal is to tap into the curative properties of revelatory art.

Two paintings by the entrance of Ben Brown’s Hong Kong gallery relay the artist’s interests: Eleven Minutes (2014) and Diabolic Flower V (2017) are just over two meters in height, with their bulk formed by layers of cloth, candle wax and paint on canvas. The former is white except for light traces of yellows and browns, and bears the same name as Brazilian author Paulo Coelho’s 2003 novel that explores the nature of sex and love via the story of a young woman’s experiences as a prostitute. As such, the work carries erotic overtones in its ejaculate-like mounds of wax. In Diabolic Flower V, on the other hand, the canvas is coated by an intense marriage of melted fabric and acrylic paint. These elements come together in vibrant shades of turquoise, gold, rose and magenta. Here, the artist’s interest in spirituality, specifically the ritual of expelling negativity from an individual, is clear: grotesque hues reflect overindulgence and malignity, all exorcized from the artist. This artwork is as much a result of Hyon Gyon’s creative process as a record of the artist’s self-driven purification.

Hyon Gyon continues her exploration of excessive luxuriation in her largest work in the exhibition, Up There Down There (2017), which is an installation of 39 gilded skateboards mounted in three rows on a wall. Up close, within the folds of gold, we see shamanic human and demonic figures depicted by relief lines, some of which are partially scraped off to uncover the colors of the decks. The shiny, brilliant layer that encases the decks in this artwork will gradually peel off as time goes on, exposing monstrous images that were hidden underneath. The figures that are revealed from beneath the meticulously arranged foil are drawn in black, juniper, hickory and magenta. Our physical distance from Up There Down There determines whether we see splendor or squalor in the artwork, just as corruption is often cloaked in decorum.

In “Cruel World,” raw energy pulses through Hyon Gyon’s creations. The artist calls herself a “medium,” moving from sexual power, to personal liberation, to a condition addressed directly in the exhibition’s title. In a diverse body of work, the artist taps into the therapeutic nature of art-making in order to transcend the inhumanity and malice of our times.

Hyon Gyon’s “Cruel World” is on view at Ben Brown Fine Arts, Hong Kong, until November 9, 2017.

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