https://jaeyeolhan.com Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter Tue, 25 Aug 2026 21:41:44 +0000 https://jaeyeolhan.com en https://jaeyeolhan.com/Front-Page Wed, 08 Apr 2020 18:28:36 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Front-Page <img width="3240" height="1978" width_o="3240" height_o="1978" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/97d2557ac29c3b860ca0abf1262513953dd1160b39a6015a9937175cf819e27d/003-copy.jpg" data-mid="251572965" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/97d2557ac29c3b860ca0abf1262513953dd1160b39a6015a9937175cf819e27d/003-copy.jpg" />「Triptych」&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Bystanders, Three Bodies&nbsp; &nbsp; 220 x 570cm&nbsp; &nbsp; Oil and Pigment Bar on Canvas&nbsp; &nbsp; 2025&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Berlin <img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3dafc2f520fb1bb10a66d0047232d02b3f4f6b7371619d737b213306e5a09352/02_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" data-mid="251572886" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3dafc2f520fb1bb10a66d0047232d02b3f4f6b7371619d737b213306e5a09352/02_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" /> <img width="3000" height="4500" width_o="3000" height_o="4500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1ce9c147f9ede1fb7a937e8d5b9e7e019d53924ef49f15a7e78a6c8a5f181471/three-bodies-4--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" data-mid="251573186" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/1ce9c147f9ede1fb7a937e8d5b9e7e019d53924ef49f15a7e78a6c8a5f181471/three-bodies-4--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" /> <img width="4000" height="1412" width_o="4000" height_o="1412" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ee39c49aa921e2d2fb09c880b2c137051ded7ec7a712d3b1cb901cd71eec029/-Quadtych--Bystanders--Youth_2024--220x760cm--Oil-on-Canvas--.jpg" data-mid="219100733" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ee39c49aa921e2d2fb09c880b2c137051ded7ec7a712d3b1cb901cd71eec029/-Quadtych--Bystanders--Youth_2024--220x760cm--Oil-on-Canvas--.jpg" />「Tetraptych」&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Bystanders, Youth&nbsp; &nbsp; 220 x 760cm&nbsp; &nbsp; Oil and Pigment Bar on Canvas&nbsp; &nbsp; 2024&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Berlin “It will finally have suggested that between the 'dignity' proper to man and the baseness that leads him to exterminate his own kind, two tasks are ultimately assigned to us: to recognize in the other, even when he seems to us the most strange and the most alien, a similitude, and at the same time to recognize in ourselves, whatever it may be, an 'obstinacy in the negative existence' that no limit can contain. As if 'hoping to see one man' could not proceed without the cruel question of the inhumanity 'that man has inflicted on man' throughout history.” -Georges Bataille, Humanity (Verso, 1986), p. 22. <img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5724a721361eaf5033576907bc518568eb6c8b2abc922091b5790643a158735/IMG_6618-2.jpg" data-mid="203925851" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f5724a721361eaf5033576907bc518568eb6c8b2abc922091b5790643a158735/IMG_6618-2.jpg" /><img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36d618b19a9c56730c456fecb4a449079856dbeb1ad7787b9701e1b7d002131f/IMG_6619-2.jpg" data-mid="203925852" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/36d618b19a9c56730c456fecb4a449079856dbeb1ad7787b9701e1b7d002131f/IMG_6619-2.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/Bystanders-Three-Bodies Tue, 25 Aug 2026 21:41:44 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Bystanders-Three-Bodies Bystanders, Three Bodies— Project Bystanders Triptych 2025Oil and Pigment Bar on Canvaseach 220 × 190 cm; overall 220 × 570 cm (HxW) Courtesy of the Artist, Berlin Case Study: Three Bodies(2025) Jaeyeol Han’s Bystanders, Three Bodies presses red fields, dark lines and entangled limbs across three canvases measuring 220 centimetres high and 570 centimetres wide overall. At close range, ridges and shifts in density give the paint the weight of flesh. From a distance, however, one contour becomes the beginning of another body. The title proposes a count, but the figures refuse to confirm it. Only the three panels remain discrete; within them, bodies gather and disperse between singular and plural states. This delay in recognition is not a defect of description. The viewer follows outlines, faces and gendered cues in an attempt to assign each limb to an individual body. Yet arms and legs cross one another’s territories, while figure and ground are separated only provisionally by different concentrations of the same red. Relation does not arise between completed individuals. Contact, pressure and overlap come first, and a body temporarily coagulates within them. In the chapter “Double Bodies” in Burning Images, Florian Göttke extends the genealogy of the king’s mortal body and enduring political body developed by Ernst Kantorowicz, tracing how a corporeal person acquires another existence through public images and surrogates. Read alongside Judith Butler’s critique of the division between private bodily life and public appearance, this genealogy raises a further issue: the conditions under which a body becomes recognisable and publicly present are not shared equally. In Han’s work, a corporeal body moves through the body of a source image and into a painted, material body, but does not settle in any of these forms. These figures should not therefore be described as political effigies. More precisely, the painting stages how one body is multiplied across media, social signs and acts of looking. The surface functions like an imago that summons an absent presence without returning its name. The bodies have scale, weight and density, yet the viewer cannot restore who they are, where they are or what has happened. Han does not explain the source image. He compresses and dislocates its traces, sustaining the point at which another image might emerge from within painting.&nbsp;[...]&nbsp;사례 연구: 《Three Bodies》 (2025) 한재열의 〈Bystanders, Three Bodies〉는 높이 220cm, 전체 너비 570cm의 세 캔버스에 붉은 색면과 검은 선, 겹쳐진 팔다리를 밀어 넣는다. 가까이에서는 물감의 두께와 압력이 살처럼 솟지만, 뒤로 물러나면 하나의 윤곽이 다른 몸의 시작점으로 이어진다. 제목은 ‘세 개’를 지시하지만 화면 속 인물은 셀 수 없다. 세 패널만이 분명한 단위로 남고, 그 안의 몸은 하나와 다수 사이에서 계속 합쳐지고 흩어진다. 이 식별의 지연은 묘사의 결함이 아니다. 관객은 윤곽과 얼굴, 성별화된 단서를 따라 각 신체의 소유와 경계를 확정하려 하지만, 팔과 다리는 서로의 영역을 가로지르고 배경과 살은 같은 적색의 밀도 차이로만 잠정적으로 갈린다. 관계가 완성된 개인들 뒤에 오는 것이 아니라, 접촉과 압력 속에서 개별 신체가 잠시 응고한다. 플로리안 괴트케는 『Burning Images』의 「Double Bodies」에서 칸토로비치가 구분한 왕의 자연적 신체와 지속되는 정치적 신체의 계보를 확장하며, 육체가 공적 이미지와 대리물 속에서 또 하나의 몸을 획득하는 과정을 추적한다. 이 계보를 주디스 버틀러의 공적·사적 신체 분할에 대한 비판과 함께 읽으면, 한 몸이 공적으로 출현하고 식별되는 조건이 누구에게나 같지 않다는 점이 선명해진다. 〈Three Bodies〉의 형상은 실제였을 몸, 출발 이미지 안에서 매개된 몸, 캔버스 위에서 다시 물질화된 몸 사이를 이동하지만 어느 층위에도 고정되지 않는다. 따라서 이 형상들을 정치적 에피지라고 단정할 수는 없다. 작품은 하나의 신체가 매체와 사회적 기호, 타인의 시선 속에서 중복되어 존재하는 방식을 드러낸다. 이때 화면은 부재한 존재를 불러오되 이름을 돌려주지 않는 이마고처럼 작동한다. 강한 현존은 남지만 누가, 어디서, 무엇을 겪는지는 복원되지 않는다. 한재열은 출발 이미지를 설명하는 대신 그 흔적을 압축하고 어긋나게 하면서, 회화 안에서 또 다른 이미지가 발생할 수 있는 상태를 지속시킨다. [...]&nbsp; <img width="4164" height="2299" width_o="4164" height_o="2299" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2eaf4ce5142f2a35ddd3aa1f2762b3bc315572b7d6bc71255c399ee2cfa9f8cf/Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025-copy.jpg" data-mid="251572723" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2eaf4ce5142f2a35ddd3aa1f2762b3bc315572b7d6bc71255c399ee2cfa9f8cf/Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025-copy.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2319" width_o="2000" height_o="2319" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/51658f9ce811bcfa8b5d01c07ede6429c3cc21de982198029ed3932f508fb5e9/three-bodies-1--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" data-mid="251572471" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/51658f9ce811bcfa8b5d01c07ede6429c3cc21de982198029ed3932f508fb5e9/three-bodies-1--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2321" width_o="2000" height_o="2321" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d2dd7bd06786efc4c9aa59b4d05f24986f69d1ef2f18f4e9e3e802c0b1ef4167/three-bodies-2--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" data-mid="251572473" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d2dd7bd06786efc4c9aa59b4d05f24986f69d1ef2f18f4e9e3e802c0b1ef4167/three-bodies-2--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2327" width_o="2000" height_o="2327" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fc07ba5823d20a427f42f1296cbb7526ae43f12b3dbfba130814c56dd48decce/three-bodies-3--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" data-mid="251572478" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fc07ba5823d20a427f42f1296cbb7526ae43f12b3dbfba130814c56dd48decce/three-bodies-3--height-220-x-width-190-cm.jpg" /><img width="5889" height="3950" width_o="5889" height_o="3950" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0bebc7506c449c479225f8474d3a90cd9661bd524aab85a8e674f00ca280b9cd/DSC07151-copy.jpg" data-mid="251572679" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0bebc7506c449c479225f8474d3a90cd9661bd524aab85a8e674f00ca280b9cd/DSC07151-copy.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3a3b840e6c76ea4f1245caf423810ca7c936349c25aa28fe518402e0ee02274/02_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" data-mid="251572716" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d3a3b840e6c76ea4f1245caf423810ca7c936349c25aa28fe518402e0ee02274/02_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cc5575061ba106e0ab6367076302d998b5ea4696108964d5d7e7574465682575/DSC06248.jpg" data-mid="251572713" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cc5575061ba106e0ab6367076302d998b5ea4696108964d5d7e7574465682575/DSC06248.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e00ecadc796c703f5ff87e33e068530ec10698abd66deed78dcefdc3c2443110/DSC06237.jpg" data-mid="251572711" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e00ecadc796c703f5ff87e33e068530ec10698abd66deed78dcefdc3c2443110/DSC06237.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/17c43fc3f910637f2c9d6fab9f6e5e717426c9111036a98fb432471a6fef7540/DSC06239.jpg" data-mid="251572712" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/17c43fc3f910637f2c9d6fab9f6e5e717426c9111036a98fb432471a6fef7540/DSC06239.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8fb04d14f2df7f8cff3612c0dfe6d600211292043911246bea82e9631e28251c/03_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" data-mid="251572729" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8fb04d14f2df7f8cff3612c0dfe6d600211292043911246bea82e9631e28251c/03_4_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2000" width_o="3000" height_o="2000" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0673d4c37920e4178b57afc30b43541d01079a3c053828e87c15e894f5d9c6f1/02_2_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" data-mid="251572728" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0673d4c37920e4178b57afc30b43541d01079a3c053828e87c15e894f5d9c6f1/02_2_Bystanders_Three_Bodies_220x570cm_Oil_PigmentBar_Canvas_2025.jpg.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/Bystanders-Youth Fri, 20 Jun 2025 15:03:47 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Bystanders-Youth Bystanders, Youth— Project Bystanders Tetraptych 2024Oil and Pigment Bar on Canvas220 x 760 cm Courtesy of the Artist, Berlin Case Study: Youth (2024) Youth (220 x 190 cm each, four panels totaling 220 x 760 cm, Pigment Bar on Canvas) marks a significant evolution in Han's exploration of indeterminacy as aesthetic and ethical principle. This quadriptych from the Bystanders series presents a single figure in a tank top across four canvases, each capturing a different gesture that flows into the next, creating what the artist describes as a "circular visual narrative." The title "Youth" functions not thematically but metaphorically. Youth here signifies not an age category but a condition of perpetual threshold, of unresolved becoming. Each of the four panels captures this suspension: the figure is neither fully present nor absent, neither completely formed nor dissolved. This work radicalizes Han's earlier strategies of anonymization. Where the Passersby series erased facial features to create universal particularity, Youth maintains the distortion itself as content. The incomplete hands—that fundamental tool of human making and grasping—suggest not just individual uncertainty but a generation's fraught relationship to agency itself. In an era of climate crisis, political polarization, and systemic precarity, the inability to fully form even the gesture of reaching becomes profoundly symptomatic. The quadriptych format amplifies this exploration of indeterminacy. Unlike traditional polyptychs that narrate progression or contrast, Han's four panels refuse linear reading.&nbsp;[...]&nbsp;사례 연구: 《Youth》 (2024) 《Youth》 (각 220 x 190 cm, 네 패널 총 220 x 760 cm, 린넨에 피그먼트 바)는 미학적이고 윤리적 원리로서의 불확정성에 대한 한재열의 탐구에서 중요한 진화를 보여준다. 《Bystanders》 시리즈의 이 사폭화는 탱크톱을 입은 단일 인물을 네 개의 캔버스에 걸쳐 제시하며, 각각은 다음으로 흘러가는 다른 제스처를 포착하여 작가가 "순환적 시각 서사"라고 묘사하는 것을 만든다. "Youth"라는 제목은 주제적으로가 아니라 은유적으로 기능한다. 여기서 젊음은 연령 범주가 아니라 영구적 문턱의 조건, 미해결된 되기를 의미한다. 네 패널 각각은 이러한 유예를 포착한다: 인물은 완전히 현존하지도 부재하지도 않으며, 완전히 형성되지도 해체되지도 않았다.

이 작품은 한재열의 초기 익명화 전략을 급진화한다. 《Passersby》 시리즈가 보편적 특수성을 창조하기 위해 안면 특징을 지웠다면, 《Youth》는 왜곡 자체를 내용으로 유지한다. 불완전한 손들—인간의 만들기와 잡기의 근본적 도구—은 개인적 불확실성뿐만 아니라 한 세대의 행위주체성 자체와의 곤란한 관계를 암시한다. 기후 위기, 정치적 양극화, 구조적 불안정의 시대에, 손 뻗기의 제스처조차 완전히 형성할 수 없는 무능력은 심오하게 징후적이다. 사폭화 형식은 이러한 불확정성의 탐구를 증폭시킨다. 진행이나 대조를 서사하는 전통적인 다폭화와 달리, 한재열의 네 패널은 선형적 읽기를 거부한다. [...]&nbsp; <img width="4000" height="1412" width_o="4000" height_o="1412" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7ee39c49aa921e2d2fb09c880b2c137051ded7ec7a712d3b1cb901cd71eec029/-Quadtych--Bystanders--Youth_2024--220x760cm--Oil-on-Canvas--.jpg" data-mid="234802777" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7ee39c49aa921e2d2fb09c880b2c137051ded7ec7a712d3b1cb901cd71eec029/-Quadtych--Bystanders--Youth_2024--220x760cm--Oil-on-Canvas--.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2314" width_o="2000" height_o="2314" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d55395dca1ba8172fe5676e632ad1be33fab8f28ca2298d16114fcfe82d184aa/Bystander_Youth_01_Left.jpg" data-mid="234802808" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d55395dca1ba8172fe5676e632ad1be33fab8f28ca2298d16114fcfe82d184aa/Bystander_Youth_01_Left.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2316" width_o="2000" height_o="2316" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8cc45957170d2d34c87469bc3ba13cddd80ee3000a945f654d8efa79d222fd08/Bystander_Youth_02_MidLeft.jpg" data-mid="234802809" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8cc45957170d2d34c87469bc3ba13cddd80ee3000a945f654d8efa79d222fd08/Bystander_Youth_02_MidLeft.jpg" /><img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f5724a721361eaf5033576907bc518568eb6c8b2abc922091b5790643a158735/IMG_6618-2.jpg" data-mid="234802778" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f5724a721361eaf5033576907bc518568eb6c8b2abc922091b5790643a158735/IMG_6618-2.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2312" width_o="2000" height_o="2312" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e4f7c3345ebaff4cbd6d72d34bad04d3396dcb877702bae8c49811ffd2c4d374/Bystander_Youth_03_MidRight.jpg" data-mid="234802810" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e4f7c3345ebaff4cbd6d72d34bad04d3396dcb877702bae8c49811ffd2c4d374/Bystander_Youth_03_MidRight.jpg" /><img width="3024" height="4032" width_o="3024" height_o="4032" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36d618b19a9c56730c456fecb4a449079856dbeb1ad7787b9701e1b7d002131f/IMG_6619-2.jpg" data-mid="234802776" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/36d618b19a9c56730c456fecb4a449079856dbeb1ad7787b9701e1b7d002131f/IMG_6619-2.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="2318" width_o="2000" height_o="2318" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/eb82bf1c1042f5d0619e9ca63237b139f979e9e16c73ae7d2559902394afa1ce/Bystander_Youth_04_Right.jpg" data-mid="234802811" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/eb82bf1c1042f5d0619e9ca63237b139f979e9e16c73ae7d2559902394afa1ce/Bystander_Youth_04_Right.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="1779" width_o="3000" height_o="1779" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/dbf4eddac6978271e85ef524574b0ff01d53410ff1a0da8f722e1e4a17ade194/Cank_Bystanders-Youth_220x760cm_Oil-on-Canvas_2024.jpg" data-mid="234806733" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/dbf4eddac6978271e85ef524574b0ff01d53410ff1a0da8f722e1e4a17ade194/Cank_Bystanders-Youth_220x760cm_Oil-on-Canvas_2024.jpg" /><img width="3000" height="2033" width_o="3000" height_o="2033" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/497f1329848425f5f0d2b14c189b0901242826f2840b08155437a05c1a971583/Cank_2-Bystanders-Youth_220x760cm_Oil-on-Canvas_2024.jpg" data-mid="234806736" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/497f1329848425f5f0d2b14c189b0901242826f2840b08155437a05c1a971583/Cank_2-Bystanders-Youth_220x760cm_Oil-on-Canvas_2024.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-The-Red-Sofa Mon, 13 Apr 2020 14:13:15 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-The-Red-Sofa The Gathering, The Red Sofa— Project Bystanders 2020 Pigment Bar on Canvas198 x 152 cm Private collection Thresholds of the Impossible: Jaeyeol Han's "The Gathering, Red Sofa" Jaeyeol Han's "The Gathering, Red Sofa" (2020) stages a profound meditation on the impossibility of settlement in contemporary life, where the most fundamental promise of domesticity—the offering of rest—becomes a site of existential suspension. In this 198 x 152 cm work executed in the artist's signature Pigment Bar technique on linen, Han constructs what Giorgio Agamben might recognize as a "zone of indistinction," where the domestic object encounters its own spatial displacement. The painting's central paradox—a red sofa positioned outside a house while a solitary figure stands, refusing the invitation to sit—articulates the condition of contemporary nomadism not as chosen mobility but as enforced precarity. Han's compositional strategy operates through what we might call a "trump card dialectic," inverting spatial and temporal relations with the precision of a playing card's doubled imagery. The sofa appears twice: inverted in the upper left corner like a reflected image, and properly oriented in the lower right, creating a temporal short-circuit that recalls Gilles Deleuze's concept of the crystal-image. This structural doubling produces what Deleuze describes as the "indiscernible" unity of virtual and actual, where memory and perception collapse into a single temporal knot. The upside-down sofa functions as the virtual trace of domestic possibility, while the "correct" sofa represents the actual impossibility of its realization. The phenomenology of non-belonging The standing figure, clothed and contemplating the ground rather than claiming the offered seat, embodies what Agamben theorizes as "pure potentiality"—the capacity to not actualize, to remain suspended between possibility and realization. This figure's refusal to sit becomes a form of what we might call "impotential domesticity," where the domestic object's function is acknowledged but never fulfilled. The painting thus stages the temporal structure of contemporary precarity, where domestic comfort exists as permanent possibility and permanent deferral. Georges Didi-Huberman's concept of the "entre" (between) proves particularly generative for understanding this spatial arrangement. The sofa exists neither fully inside nor outside, occupying what Didi-Huberman calls the "visual underside" of domestic space. This liminal positioning creates what he describes as a "symptom image"—a visual formation that reveals the underlying tensions of its historical moment. The red sofa becomes a symptom of Korea's housing crisis, where domestic objects exist in a state of perpetual displacement, never fully settled into stable spatial relations. The window positioned in the left corner functions as more than architectural detail; it operates as what Didi-Huberman calls a "dialectical image," simultaneously promising interiority and revealing its impossibility. The window's presence suggests the existence of interior domestic space while the sofa's exterior positioning demonstrates the failure of that promise. This architectural element activates what might be called the "architectural unconscious" of contemporary Korean society, where the dream of home persists even as its material conditions become increasingly impossible. The dialectics of non-settlement "The Gathering, Red Sofa" achieves its critical power through what we might call the "dialectics of non-settlement"—the simultaneous presentation of domestic possibility and its systematic denial. The painting's sophisticated formal structure, its material specificity, and its engagement with contemporary Korean social reality combine to create a work that functions as both aesthetic achievement and social critique. The work's theoretical richness emerges from its refusal to resolve the contradictions it presents. The sofa remains outside, the figure continues standing, the gathering fails to occur. This formal persistence of irresolution reflects the broader social conditions that make such resolution impossible. In this sense, Han's painting operates as what Agamben calls a "coming community"—a formation based not on shared identity but on shared impossibility. The painting's ultimate achievement lies in its transformation of social despair into spatial complexity, creating what might be called a "phenomenology of non-belonging" that speaks to conditions far beyond the Korean context. In an era of global housing crises, climate displacement, and economic precarity, "The Gathering, Red Sofa" offers a visual language for understanding how domestic comfort becomes politically impossible while remaining phenomenologically necessary. The work stands as a testament to art's capacity to transform social analysis into spatial experience, creating images that think through the conditions of their own impossibility. <img width="3600" height="4712" width_o="3600" height_o="4712" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b805175244af4b6687b66e3b65678953d5948c7a890effed23006303857a7461/NEW_The-gathering--the-red-sofa_152x198cm_pigment-bar-on-linen_2020.jpg" data-mid="98540579" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b805175244af4b6687b66e3b65678953d5948c7a890effed23006303857a7461/NEW_The-gathering--the-red-sofa_152x198cm_pigment-bar-on-linen_2020.jpg" /><img width="3600" height="5478" width_o="3600" height_o="5478" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/218e740fac8f91b67e2ef4d648f6d4e57964958b11e03235fb32e72be0040b44/Detail_The-gathering--the-red-sofa_152x198cm_pigment-bar-on-linen_2020.jpg" data-mid="98540801" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/218e740fac8f91b67e2ef4d648f6d4e57964958b11e03235fb32e72be0040b44/Detail_The-gathering--the-red-sofa_152x198cm_pigment-bar-on-linen_2020.jpg" /><img width="2400" height="1600" width_o="2400" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b58fd37687fee86eb2cc14f102de4fbdb71271c0b0ec1970f47d1716436186d7/small_DSC02107.jpg" data-mid="66773090" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b58fd37687fee86eb2cc14f102de4fbdb71271c0b0ec1970f47d1716436186d7/small_DSC02107.jpg" /><img width="2690" height="2041" width_o="2690" height_o="2041" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f37fbe1325de00e3edf97c84f34e077d23b2efaf773d437c4836a46e7980f945/billboard1-1.jpg" data-mid="66771928" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f37fbe1325de00e3edf97c84f34e077d23b2efaf773d437c4836a46e7980f945/billboard1-1.jpg" /><img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/08a825158a0049bec3f3b666ad99f95f4ade6800ed2c05ad3a5f0514321ec451/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00007.jpg" data-mid="169338607" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/08a825158a0049bec3f3b666ad99f95f4ade6800ed2c05ad3a5f0514321ec451/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00007.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-Miners Mon, 20 Apr 2020 17:32:07 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-Miners The Gathering, Miners&nbsp;— Project Bystanders 2020 Pigment Bar on Canvas195 x 130 cm Private collection<img width="3600" height="5348" width_o="3600" height_o="5348" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/118362ec8ca1b6ff8f7cbb9fcdae0126cabc635337d0e6a59a3e7fef64a0baca/Painting_Editing_-20210217-035913-.jpg" data-mid="99526745" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/118362ec8ca1b6ff8f7cbb9fcdae0126cabc635337d0e6a59a3e7fef64a0baca/Painting_Editing_-20210217-035913-.jpg" /><img width="3600" height="2504" width_o="3600" height_o="2504" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d3451da55798b16da0646b514fcbe88e915c40b66da25167baa69abf4175876a/Painting_Editing-20210217-040645-.jpg" data-mid="99526670" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d3451da55798b16da0646b514fcbe88e915c40b66da25167baa69abf4175876a/Painting_Editing-20210217-040645-.jpg" /><img width="3600" height="2400" width_o="3600" height_o="2400" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e2babf39eb02852e899caaca5840096679393ed54b2f55d39a0fdbe6255f635f/Painting_Editing-20210217-040733-.jpg" data-mid="99526671" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e2babf39eb02852e899caaca5840096679393ed54b2f55d39a0fdbe6255f635f/Painting_Editing-20210217-040733-.jpg" /><img width="3600" height="3373" width_o="3600" height_o="3373" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7a1bc455439a8b64034d8682f69ead242f7fde0dd2b88bb83b4bec9844538a0e/Painting_Editing-20210217-051846-.jpg" data-mid="99526672" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7a1bc455439a8b64034d8682f69ead242f7fde0dd2b88bb83b4bec9844538a0e/Painting_Editing-20210217-051846-.jpg" /><img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/f3d12dc9673c10e26b34cc8ce70f0024c5b6ac8cf863256e64b1d6fcb6e0b17d/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00004.jpg" data-mid="169340161" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/f3d12dc9673c10e26b34cc8ce70f0024c5b6ac8cf863256e64b1d6fcb6e0b17d/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00004.jpg" /><img width="6240" height="4160" width_o="6240" height_o="4160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/2b3fd2aec39ef19b31174a66a10cd5ee9d33198e41f64b5721516a4cb7b8c6ba/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00005.jpg" data-mid="169340129" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/2b3fd2aec39ef19b31174a66a10cd5ee9d33198e41f64b5721516a4cb7b8c6ba/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00005.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-Bystanders Mon, 20 Apr 2020 17:32:04 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-Bystanders The Gathering, Bystanders&nbsp;— Project Bystanders 2020Pigment Bar on Canvas 194 × 130.5 cm Private collection<img width="1072" height="1600" width_o="1072" height_o="1600" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a415e5b48a249ebcabf0aadd703f8c926d52da983e7915f7f7973939052decf7/JPG_The-gathering--Bystanders_130x190cm_Pigment-Bar-on-Linen_2018.jpg" data-mid="67736911" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a415e5b48a249ebcabf0aadd703f8c926d52da983e7915f7f7973939052decf7/JPG_The-gathering--Bystanders_130x190cm_Pigment-Bar-on-Linen_2018.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-a-Man-with-a-Bottle Mon, 20 Apr 2020 17:14:38 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/The-Gathering-a-Man-with-a-Bottle The Gathering, a Man with a Bottle— Project Bystanders 2021 Pigment Bar on Canvas194 × 130.5 cm Private collection <img width="2500" height="3702" width_o="2500" height_o="3702" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a89831b171591150c8c1d3bf5cc8e2afb6beb4be790d5b8fc2a80b4e5b1c4f43/The-Gathering--a-Man-with-the-Bottle_194x130.5cm_Pigment-Bar-on-Canvas_2021.jpg" data-mid="124414910" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a89831b171591150c8c1d3bf5cc8e2afb6beb4be790d5b8fc2a80b4e5b1c4f43/The-Gathering--a-Man-with-the-Bottle_194x130.5cm_Pigment-Bar-on-Canvas_2021.jpg" /><img width="2000" height="1333" width_o="2000" height_o="1333" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/823e88b211cc7571e335d2b96c374bbd0277ea6b58dd7b289cdb7cb48918da7b/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00007.jpeg" data-mid="146401471" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/823e88b211cc7571e335d2b96c374bbd0277ea6b58dd7b289cdb7cb48918da7b/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00007.jpeg" /><img width="6240" height="3989" width_o="6240" height_o="3989" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8a7c51dbf088d71365a7070fcb41e95effd5600e62b5d25f97c9f2bd45200af5/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00008.jpeg" data-mid="146401528" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8a7c51dbf088d71365a7070fcb41e95effd5600e62b5d25f97c9f2bd45200af5/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00008.jpeg" /><img width="2000" height="1152" width_o="2000" height_o="1152" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/12aa33c91ff85a6bb897c1a3d3b6dddf053bdbe868aed2ada7ded4b61ce98813/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00003.jpeg" data-mid="146401470" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/12aa33c91ff85a6bb897c1a3d3b6dddf053bdbe868aed2ada7ded4b61ce98813/Jaeyeol-Han-Gallery-BK_00003.jpeg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/Study-of-Death-Mask Mon, 07 Sep 2020 15:35:54 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Study-of-Death-Mask Study of Death Mask&nbsp;— Project Passersby 2020 Pigment Bar on Canvas 30 x 24.5 cm Courtesy of the artist, Berlin<img width="3840" height="4817" width_o="3840" height_o="4817" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/ded69cabe3626f3c5190de23a0a009b0008b6c2e4aea9f4513972a06fb3e8e12/Deathmask-3840-150dpi.jpg" data-mid="82018739" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/ded69cabe3626f3c5190de23a0a009b0008b6c2e4aea9f4513972a06fb3e8e12/Deathmask-3840-150dpi.jpg" /><img width="3840" height="1973" width_o="3840" height_o="1973" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/df86b2421e7aad219b50990b0cbb46893d9d993c2babab39e757cab99b95f70f/Deathmask-Detail-3840-150.jpg" data-mid="82019073" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/df86b2421e7aad219b50990b0cbb46893d9d993c2babab39e757cab99b95f70f/Deathmask-Detail-3840-150.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/Study-of-Death-Mask-II Sat, 05 Oct 2024 22:55:00 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Study-of-Death-Mask-II Study of Death Mask II— Project Passersby 2022 Pigment Bar on Canvas 30 x 20 cm Courtesy of the artist, Berlin<img width="3000" height="4502" width_o="3000" height_o="4502" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5fa04b881c1f81f6187425632cc195d2d2823f24c14d75045a1cb36370ef4573/Study-of-Death-Mask-II.jpg" data-mid="219267636" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/5fa04b881c1f81f6187425632cc195d2d2823f24c14d75045a1cb36370ef4573/Study-of-Death-Mask-II.jpg" /> https://jaeyeolhan.com/Passersby-Bleibtreustrase Thu, 03 Sep 2020 12:00:58 +0000 Jaeyeol Han | Contemporary Painter https://jaeyeolhan.com/Passersby-Bleibtreustrase Passersby, Bleibtreustraße&nbsp;— Project Passersby 2020 Pigment Bar on Canvas 40 x 30 cm Courtesy of the artist, Berlin<img width="1900" height="2585" width_o="1900" height_o="2585" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e62630b807f37e8eb7c5dae5db526d6e39d60ee74c9b47f8104834e3d0e95901/transfer-002-s.jpg" data-mid="81694199" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e62630b807f37e8eb7c5dae5db526d6e39d60ee74c9b47f8104834e3d0e95901/transfer-002-s.jpg" /><img width="3660" height="5055" width_o="3660" height_o="5055" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/36271ff0997b39c41f08f5d813c57aae1e0d20b8b9acb510812951f217b65089/transfer-002-2.jpg" data-mid="81694118" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/36271ff0997b39c41f08f5d813c57aae1e0d20b8b9acb510812951f217b65089/transfer-002-2.jpg" /><img width="3840" height="2603" width_o="3840" height_o="2603" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/4dd34140e3ad6c1fd281a8f26f928266f129763d60a189bc93bc25699f984b81/Display1-s.jpg" data-mid="83299669" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/4dd34140e3ad6c1fd281a8f26f928266f129763d60a189bc93bc25699f984b81/Display1-s.jpg" />