Ilhwa HONG

“The forest asked the wind to bring the seeds of brambles to protect it from the men's chainsaw. The wind accepted and deposited the seeds of the brambles which created an impenetrable barrier of thorns, over which the chainsaws were powerless. The forest thought it was saved, but soon the vines of brambles surrounded the trunks, up to the highest branches, suffocating the trees they had to defend.”

This all-too-human metaphor has been crossing the work of Ilwa HONG for the last 4 years: The forest theme follows Hong Ilhwa spending several months in the wild forests of Jeju island in Korea. A city dweller, Ilhwa Hong was initially terrorized by the proximity of centipedes, spiders and snakes surrounding, or invading the modest container serving as his refuge, he eventually established a peaceful symbiosis with the forest, imbuing with its life , ever changing lighting, a poetry that Hong Ilhwa skillfully transpose as a window for our urban cage. 

Ilhwa HONG was born in 1974, and lives in Le Mans, France. After his studies in Seoul, Hong obtained the DNSEP (equivalent of a Master's degree) from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in 2003. He exhibits mainly in Korea and France, but also in Europe and the USA. in galleries and permanent collections of half a dozen institutions including the BnF in Paris and the Vincent van Gogh Foundation in the Netherlands.