Hwang Seontae: Sanctuary (Pt 1)

Seontae constructs his pieces with a graphically attuned sensibility, like an architect’s animated blueprint. The buildings are painstakingly mapped out in accurate perspective. The quality of light is tonally graded in etched glass and the whole schematic plan strategically backlit to create the illusion of pictorial space, where coloured exterior and monochromatic interior are dramatically contrasted.

This is not heroic or monumental architecture but is emphatically residential and suburban in its design. As such, these are aspirational spaces that prioritize comfort and utility - complemented by access to gardens and vistas of manicured nature. The artist proposes ideal living spaces as epitomes of order that operate as potential refuges from the chaos and disorder of an unbuilt world.

Ambiguity is built into these images. The notable absence of human presence poses the question “where is everybody?”. Is this a breathless pause in some utopian scenario or the desolate outcome of a dystopic event? What happened or is about to happen?

We experience Seontae’s compositions as a kind of datum point or pregnant pause from which deviation is anticipated. It depends on our own particular inclinations where our interpretation lands – on sanctuary and safety or something less hopeful - an eerie limbo land where humanity is compromised or even extinguished. However, the upbeat tone of these pieces, bathed in an atmosphere modulated by beneficent light, indicates optimistic and positive outcomes. This sculptor’s world pulses with the energy of a nurturing sun, while it looks forward to the animation of human activity.

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