CHUL HYUN AHN
“There are no clear answers to what lies beyond the physical limitations of our world. This is the crux of the work—the audience must bring themselves to the threshold and confront the infinite space to complete the work.”
— Chul Hyun Ahn
Korean artist Chul Hyun Ahn investigates infinite space through his use of light, color, and illusion. His interest in the gap between the conscious and subconscious compels him to construct illusionistic environments, providing a spaces for contemplation. Ahn’s sculpture urges the viewer to consider man’s boundless ability for physical and spiritual travel while exploiting notions of infinity and the poetics of emptiness.
Ahn has translated geometric painting and the Zen practice of meditation into an art of light, space, and technology, enticing the viewer to look deeply into his frame of environments. His works create an optical and bodily illusion of infinity through apparent limitless space. The notion of the void distinguishes his work amid the vast panoply of ways that artists have used light as a medium since the experiments of the 1920s and particularly since the 1960s.
CHUL HYUN AHN, Dots, 2019 Edition 1/3 Plywood, lights, mirrors, 43.5 43.5 x 5.75 inches (110.5 x 110.5 x 14.6 cm)
CHUL HYUN AHN, Forked Series #45, 2023, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, plywood, LED lights, mirrors, 21 x 21 x 4 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Railroad, 2018, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, plywood, mirrors, stone, resin, LED lights and hardware, 94 x 94 x 20 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Diagonal #2, 2017, Edition 1/3 + 1AP, Plywood, changing LED lights, mirrors, 43.5 x 43.5 x 5.5 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Portal, 2020, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, plywood, changing LED lights, mirrors, 49 x 49 x 6 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Diagonal #2, 2017, Edition 1/3 + 1 AP, Plywood, changing LED lights, mirrors, 43.5 x 43.5 x 5.5 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Tunnel VII, 2023, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, cast concrete, fluorescent lights, mirrors, 20 x 40 x 40 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Forked Series #49, 2025, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, plywood, changing LED lights, mirrors, 21 x 21 x 4 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Fire Escape, 2023, Unique, plywood, LED lights, backlit film, mirrors, 25.25 x 25.25 x 5 inches
CHUL HYUN AHN, Circle and Square, 2023, Edition of 3 + 1 AP, plywood, changing LED lights, mirrors, 61.5 x 61.5 x 6 inches