SANGHA YOON : The Castle in the Mirror
Opening Reception | 19 April (Saturday), 3-6pm
GALLERY EXHIBITION | Namuso Gallery is pleased to present The Castle in the Mirror, the first solo exhibition in the Netherlands and Europe by South Korean artist Sangha Yoon.
Sangha Yoon (b. 1995) is an emerging contemporary artist based in Seoul and Gwangju, South Korea. His works captivate through its vivid, childlike figures set against rough, furrowed surfaces. The contrast between their luminous colours and the distressed texture of the pictorial plane evokes a sense of disillusionment - the collision of innocence with the starkness of reality. His figures embody a deeply universal tension between wonder and experience, recalling William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, where childhood purity inevitably meets the complexities of the world.
Sangha’s pastel-coloured, dreamlike figures inhabit a space between comfort and eeriness. Their softened forms mask an underlying unease, while surrealist elements destabilise the boundaries between fantasy and reality. Fantastical characters, rather than serving as mere echoes of childhood imagination, take on a spectral presence—manifesting as memories, past friendships, or lingering fears that persist into adulthood. Neither good nor bad, these figures exist just beyond perception, shaping the subconscious like silent ghosts.
As surrealism experiences a global resurgence, contemporary artists employ its dreamlike language to address pressing anxieties—environmental collapse, economic instability, and the fluid nature of digital identity. In Sangha’s work, fantasy is not an escape but an extension of reality, a mirror reflecting buried emotions, desires, and subconscious fears. His paintings suggest that childhood is not a distant memory but an ever-present force, influencing both perception and future experience.
The title The Castle in the Mirror evokes this sense of searching—for a past that may never have existed, for a refuge that remains just out of reach. Yet, within Sangha’s enigmatic dreamscapes, small symbols of hope emerge—fragile yet persistent reminders of resilience. His work reminds us that while the world may fracture, the mirror does not merely reflect—it distorts, reveals, and invites us to step through.
Curated by Matilda Mulder
