Solo Exhibition
YoungAe Kwon
The Aesthetics of Grain
Septenber 28– October 3, 2026
Opening Reception: Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026, 6 - 8 PM
Asian & American Art Foundation (526 W. 26th St., Suite 211, New York, NY) is proud to present The Aesthetics of Grain, a solo exhibition by Korean artist YoungAe Kwon, on view from September 28 through October 3, 2026. An opening reception will be held on Thursday, October 1, from 6–8 PM. The exhibition marks Kwon’s first solo presentation in New York.
At the heart of the exhibition is gyeol (결), a concept Kwon has explored throughout her practice. For the artist, gyeol, or “grain,” extends beyond physical texture to become a sensory and conceptual current connecting memory and time, nature and humanity, material and life. Like the grain of wind and clouds, the warp and weft of hemp, or the breath of a living being, gyeol carries both visible materiality and the invisible traces of time.
Kwon constructs her distinctive painterly surfaces through layers of hemp, ottchil (traditional Korean lacquer), gel stone, and color. She applies lacquer to wooden panels, adheres hemp cloth, builds the surface with gel stone, and repeatedly adds layers of color and lacquer. The works develop slowly through cycles of controlled drying, natural drying, and waiting. This repetition becomes more than a technical process; it allows time itself to accumulate within the work. Traces of the artist’s hand and the transformation of the materials remain embedded in the surface as new forms of gyeol.
The coarse warp and weft of hemp, the depth and luminosity of lacquer, and the rugged texture of gel stone retain their distinct material qualities while forming a unified visual field. Lacquer penetrates the fibers of hemp, creating depth and resonance, while gel stone introduces a raw, elemental surface that resists artificial smoothness. Rather than adding decorative complexity, Kwon seeks to remove the unnecessary and move closer to the essential beauty inherent in the materials themselves.
One point of departure for Kwon’s work is her childhood memory of her mother’s labor and of hemp as part of everyday life. Yet these personal memories expand within the work into broader reflections on time and human experience. Past and present, labor and serenity, hardship and the sublime become layered together, creating a visual rhythm across the surface.
Each gyeol exists like an individual note, while color, texture, surface, and breath come together to form a quiet ensemble. Within the repeated layers and traces, even silence becomes rhythm, as different textures and temporalities meet and seem to breathe together within a single work.
The Aesthetics of Grain is therefore more than an exploration of texture and material. Through the accumulated traces of time and the hand embedded in hemp and lacquer, Kwon considers how memory becomes material, and how material, in turn, can evoke time and the sensation of life. While rooted in personal memory, her work ultimately expands into a meditation on endurance, inner strength, and the essential beauty of human experience.
YoungAe Kwon holds a Master’s degree from the Graduate School of Culture and Arts at Dongguk University in Seoul. She has presented solo exhibitions at the Andong Culture & Arts Center, Gallery Arisu, and KEPCO Art Gallery, and has participated in art fairs and international exchange exhibitions in Australia, Switzerland, Italy, and the Philippines. She is the recipient of the Grand Prize in the Non-Figurative category of the Korea Fine Arts Grand Exhibition. The Aesthetics of Grain marks her first solo exhibition in New York.