Ran Hwang: Evanescence and Regeneration

New York, NY — Leila Heller Gallery is delighted to announce Evanescence & Regeneration, a solo exhibition by acclaimed Korean artist Ran Hwang, on view from October 15th through December 7th, 2024. Residing in both Seoul and New York City, Hwang is renowned for her intricate and meditative contemporary installations. Her works are featured in prominent private and public collections, including The Brooklyn Museum, Houston Museum of Fine Art, and The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul.

Evanescence & Regeneration explores the transient nature of existence, a theme central to Hwang’s work and artistic process. Using unconventional materials such as buttons, threads, and thousands of meticulously hammered pins, Hwang creates visually captivating installations that evoke the cyclical themes of life, death, and rebirth. The repetitive and labor-intensive act of hammering pins by hand is not only a creative process but also a meditative one. It serves as a metaphor for the passage of time, allowing Hwang to visualize cosmological cycles, where each step of creation and rebirth through the process of conception, installation, and de-installation, mirrors the impermanence of the natural world.

Visitors to Evanescence & Regeneration will experience works that embody a delicate balance between enduring presence and fleeting existence. Hwang’s installations are site-specific, thoughtfully designed to interact with the space of Leila Heller Gallery at 22 E 80th Street. The de-installation of these works symbolizes the end of one life cycle and the beginning of another, reinforcing the artist’s contemplative approach to ephemerality and regeneration.

This exhibition offers a deep exploration of the themes of transformation, spirituality, and time, inviting viewers to pause and consider the delicate and cyclical nature of life itself.

October 15 – December 6, 2024

Press Release