Past 

“The truth is that we change without ceasing, and that the state itself is nothing but change.” —Henri-Louis Bergson, Creative Evolution (1907) For centuries, Western artists were devoted to faithfully depicting the world around them. Then, with the advent of photography, artists began to turn their gaze inwards, attempting to capture the invisible world of human consciousness. This internal domain, a compelling subject for exploration, continues to captivate contemporary artists. "Change Without Ceasing" is an exhibition which seeks to examine how the human psyche has been visually articulated in the wake of abstract art, and how these articulations diverge from traditional expressionist methods, through the practices of two female artists from Korea. Henri Bergson, a French philosopher, argued that consciousness is not a fixed entity but can only be understood within durée—a state of “unceasing change.” Unlike our physical experience of time - which can be measured - consciousness exists in a qualitative state, where memory and emotion overlap and transform in a nonlinear flow. This notion of duration parallels the trajectory of modern art, which shifted from representing the external world to probing the depths of the inner one. The exhibition title, Change Without Ceasing, is drawn from Bergson’s quote on the idea of durée. Youngsil Pyo’s paintings dwell on subtle, evanescent emotions that arise in everyday life, rendered through delicate brushwork. She seeks to consciously seize the sudden thoughts and feelings that drift across our minds, and through a prolonged process of “tending” to them, gives these invisible states a visual form. Specific colors are often assigned to emotions—such as “wounded pink” or “anxious yellow”—while metaphorical shapes like the body, the eye, or the circle become vessels for abstract states such as “obsession,” “guilt,” “friction,” and “loneliness.” Whereas traditional Expressionism often erupted with raw, forceful displays of emotion, Pyo’s paintings reveal instead the minute ripples and resonances of emotion. They capture the waves of feelings as they surface within the mind, translating minute vibrations and tremors into subtle imagery. For her, the act of painting is not a raw outpouring of emotions but a way of glimpsing their traces, enduring them, and bringing them into view. It becomes a process of purification and release—a form of catharsis. Kyunghee Lee, by contrast, focuses on the repressed desires, anxieties, and inner unease of contemporary individuals, including herself, paying close attention to the threshold between consciousness and the unconscious mind. Known for her highly intricate wood engraving prints, since 2016 she has expanded her practice with the ongoing “Chance and Necessity—Void” series, which attempts to contemporise her style of artistic expression. Using images created through ink wash, the marbling technique of Ebru, and wood engraving, Lee has developed her own signature method: these images are reassembled into a single pictorial field through the technique of collage. This approach resonates with the Buddhist philosophy of dependent origination, which posits that no fixed self or substance exists, but that all things are interconnected and in flux. As the artist notes, “Rather than relying on dichotomous perspectives, I seek a world grounded in the Eastern thought of dependent origination, one that turns away from the materialism, fame, and power of modern capitalism and moves toward emptiness.” Her recent works frequently juxtapose the reclining Venus—a symbol of repressed desire whose pose faintly recalls Manet’s Olympia—with images of fighter jets, representing violence. The contours of Venus blur into the diffusion of ink, on the verge of disappearing, while the precision of printmaking interplays with the spontaneity of ink wash, creating ambiguous spaces. These recomposed images reveal a nonlinear interpretation of time, building a strata of consciousness where past memories, the present moment, and subconscious thoughts blend in each layer. Lee coins such images as “contingent necessity,” visualizing a state of emptiness that will never cease. Together, these two artists resist the expressionist impulse to vent overwhelming emotion. Instead, they contemplate their inner states and seek to capture the temporality of consciousness as it transforms—a distinctly meditative stance. While Pyo focuses on representing emotion using delicate images of motion, Lee traverses the border of consciousness and the unconscious to reveal dynamic images of time. Yet both share a uniquely feminine sensitivity and persistence in observing their own inner lives. Their work invites viewers beyond visual and sensory pleasure, into the very tremors and vibrations of existence itself, offering a profound resonance. About Artists: Youngsil Pyo (b.1974, Korea) received her M.F.A. in Oil Painting from Duksung Women’s University in Seoul. Her work focuses on capturing delicate and subtle emotions arising from the inner self. By layering moments that may appear trivial yet are never insignificant, she renders residual traces of feeling and fragments of sensibility through faint, blurred forms and sensitive hues. Since her first solo exhibition at Kwanhoon Gallery in 1999, she has held eighteen solo exhibitions. Recent presentations include “Soft Steps, Rustling Leaves” (A-LOUNGE, Seoul, 2025), “A Monologue” (Dam Gallery, Seoul, 2023), “In the Air” (Nook Gallery, Seoul, 2022), and “Your Absence” (Drawingroom, Seoul, 2021). She has also participated in numerous curated group exhibitions and was a resident artist at Studio White Block in Paju from 2012 to 2014. Kyunghee Lee (b. 1961, Korea) received her BFA and MFA in Western Painting from Ewha Womans University. Renowned for her mastery of the intricate and highly disciplined wood engraving technique, Lee has, since 2016, been developing her ongoing Chance and Necessity – Void series, which integrates traditional printmaking with contemporary painting. Through the collage of images created using ink-wash, Ebru marbling, and wood engraving techniques, she explores the subtle threshold between consciousness and the unconscious. Since her first solo exhibition in 1993, Lee has presented eighteen solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows. Her accolades include the Excellence Award at the New Discourse Contest (Cyart Space, Seoul, 2016) and the Special Prize for Original Graphics at the Novosibirsk International Triennial of Graphic Arts (Russia, 2021). In 2023, she was named one of the thirty finalists for the Sovereign Asian Art Prize, and in 2024 she received the Van Gogh Tribute Award – International Cultural Management (Barcelona, Spain), continuing her active presence both in Korea and abroad.