WHISPER: SALON
Featuring Seven Emerging Korean Artists
34 Works
Painting & Object-based
Within reSOUND New York, WHISPER: Salon introduces a new format, bringing together emerging Korean artists based in New York. Originally conceived as a space for sensory engagement and social interaction, WHISPER is reactivated as a shared environment where distinct artistic practices exist in proximity. Through painting and object-based works, the artists engage with material, image, and light to explore lived experience, from bodily movement and emotional states to intimate, everyday observations.
Gestures, rhythms, and fragments of memory emerge through layering, rearrangement, and abstraction, while familiar forms are reconfigured into new visual and material relationships. Light and fragile materials create an atmosphere of shifting perceptions within the space. WHISPER: Salon invites visitors to slow down and engage with the works, where individual voices remain distinct, yet continuously shaped through proximity, dialogue, and shared experience.
Herok is a New York–based multidisciplinary artist working across painting and installation. His practice centers on the accumulation of bodily traces through a physically intensive process of layering, scraping, and reconstructing materials such as hanji (Korean traditional paper), tissue paper, acrylic, oil, and house paint.
Drawing from spaces of physical activity, he interprets movement as a form of nonverbal communication. By translating body-tracking data and ambient sensory information into compositional structures, his work expands painting beyond image-making. Instead, each work becomes a site where time, movement, and sensory experience are embedded and continuously reassembled.
He received his MFA in Painting and Drawing from Pratt Institute and has exhibited in New York, including presentations at Space776 Gallery. His work has been featured in publications such as Voyage Savannah and Shoutout Atlanta.
Hwichan Ko explores themes of intimacy, loneliness, and emotional disconnection in the digital age through figurative painting and character-driven imagery. Influenced by personal experience, hip-hop culture, and Japanese animation, his work transforms moments of vulnerability into visual narratives that balance humor with melancholy.
His paintings reflect the fragility of contemporary relationships and the quiet isolation embedded within everyday life.
He is based in New York and has presented solo and group exhibitions at Aspace Gallery. His work has been featured on platforms such as ArtRabbit and in publications including Voyage LA and Canvas Rebel.
“I Light”
Nayoun Ryu’s practice redefines light as both material and action, using it to reveal the latent qualities of everyday objects. In her egglow series, she constructs lamps from real eggshells, transforming fragile organic matter into subtle sources of illumination.
By merging light with ephemeral materials, her work invites viewers to reconsider the sensory and emotional presence of the ordinary.
She received her BFA from the Korea National University of Arts and an MFA in Interior Lighting Design from Parsons School of Design. Her work has been featured in Dwell Magazine, where her practice has been recognized within the field of contemporary lighting design.
Phoebe’s practice engages abstraction through memory, emotion, and the visual language of play. Drawing inspiration from the immediacy of children’s art, she uses color and form to revisit fleeting moments and overlooked feelings.
Her paintings unfold through processes of layering and transformation, creating spaces where memory and movement coexist. Each work becomes a quiet site of reflection, balancing spontaneity with emotional resonance.
She is currently based in New York and pursuing her MFA at Pratt Institute. Her work has been exhibited in New York, with upcoming presentations including Morgan Lehman Gallery. Her practice has also been featured in VibesNVistas Magazine.
Sangho Han’s practice investigates continuity within painting through modular compositions that merge drawing, painting, and sculptural structure. Working across canvas, wood, and paper, he constructs multi-layer works that are rearranged in response to spatial conditions.
His compositions function as fragmented yet interconnected narratives, shaped by encounters and observations from lived experience. Through layered mark-making and shifting configurations, his work explores the psychological dimensions of perception and the instability of representation.
He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts and his BFA from Gachon University. His work has been presented internationally in cities including New York, Seoul, Seongnam, and Hanoi, and he has participated in an artist residency program in Berlin.
Siha’s abstract paintings use color and form as primary materials to articulate intangible aspects of experience. Through the interplay of opposing forces—such as stability and instability, humor and seriousness, precision and imperfection—her work generates dynamic visual rhythms.
These tensions produce organic, evolving pictorial spaces that mirror the complexity and ambiguity of lived reality.
She received her MFA from Pratt Institute and her BFA from Hongik University. Her work has been exhibited in New York, including presentations at 86 Bowery and Studio in Factory. Her work has been featured in publications such as New American Paintings, as well as platforms including Get Closer Magazine and Roundcube Contemporary.
Yeonji’s paintings originate from intimate observations of personal life. Extracting forms from everyday moments, she translates them into abstract compositions defined by vibrant color and gestural surfaces.
Through techniques such as smearing, dragging, and layering, she constructs pictorial spaces that balance control and spontaneity. Her work transforms familiar experiences into unfamiliar visual structures, inviting a reconsideration of the ordinary.
She received her MFA from Pratt Institute and her BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been exhibited in New York and internationally, including presentations at Morgan Lehman Gallery and 86 Bowery. She has been recognized as a finalist for the Hopper Prize and her work has been featured in publications such as Art Spiel and Canvas Rebel. Her work is included in the Fidelity Investments Corporate Art Collection.