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Anikoon: Mechanical Heart

February 24 – March 9, 2025

Reception: Feb 27, Thursday, 6-8 PM

72 Warren Street, New York NY 10007

Jakupsil is pleased to present Anikoon: Mechanical Heart, a solo exhibition of new paintings by Anikoon at On The Fringe in New York. The exhibition features twenty new works inspired by Anikoon’s frequent travels to the United States, presented alongside his acclaimed robot series. Through these unique mechanical intermediaries, Anikoon examines the multilayered identities of contemporary individuals and the tension between solidarity and alienation in our increasingly mechanized world. His robots, deliberately removed from the sleek perfection of high-tech society, appear disarmingly awkward and vulnerable, with expressions ranging from playful bewilderment to profound melancholy — reflecting the complex emotional landscape of modern life. Expanding this inquiry, Anikoon's new body of work engages with American consumer culture through the lens of childhood memory and foreign perspective, incorporating iconic brands like McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Air Jordan. Also, his experimental painterly approach, which encompasses techniques from collage to augmented reality, bridges personal narrative with universal questions about humanity while creating innovative artistic experiences.

Anikoon's robot series originated from a chance encounter with an abandoned toy robot at a flea market in New York. Once cherished but now discarded, this robot became a poignant symbol of the impermanence inherent  in both consumer goods and human emotions. This discovery transformed both the artist's identity and artistic language. Departing from the sophisticated mechanical imagery prevalent in science fiction, his robots instead embody human imperfection and vulnerability. Their expressions —playful, vacant, disconcerted, and melancholic—reflect various facets of contemporary human existence, inviting viewers to confront marginalized narratives and forgotten emotional landscapes.

The robots within his canvases carry a spectrum of emotions, precisely capturing the psychology of contemporary individuals while functioning as the masks we all wear. Through these mechanical masks, Anikoon approaches both self-identity and relationships with others as an epiphany of the face, visualizing the gap between external appearance and internal voice. As seen in the Rusty Robot, Adult Block, and Heart to Heart series, his exploration of narrative through robotic faces and gestures reveals a core element that runs throughout his work: an interplay between cartoon-like imagination and longing for innocence, coupled with the recognition that such purity remains elusive. Yet, his intention to expand our perception becomes a joyful journey of finding the child behind our masks, while the process of confronting our inner selves and others enhances our capacity for sensing and imagining others' experiences. Anikoon states that in his artistic practice, evoking emotions of beauty itself fulfills his aspiration, and his work becomes the repeated endeavor of sharing these feelings with others. As Levinas suggested, such face-to-face encounters with the Other represent moments of true realization, where accepting others as they are into one's domain ultimately leads to self-realization.

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2013      BFA in Film and Animation, Hongik University

 

Solo Exhibitions

2025    Anikoon: Mechanical Heart, Jakupsil + OnTheFringe, New York, USA

2024    Candy box, Zitten Gallery, Seoul, Korea

2023    One small step for robot, one giant leap for robot kind, Brown Gallery,

             Seoul, Korea

2022    Black & Blue NFT, MBC Smart Center, Seoul, Korea

2021    Hello I am Robot, Busan National Science Museum, Busan, Korea

2020    Contact & Untact, Jinsan Gallery, Seoul, Korea

            Robopop, Humax Artroom Gallery, Bundang, Korea

            Robot Reboot, Starbucks Starlight Gallery, Gwacheon, Korea

2019    Found 17, United Gallery, Korea

2018    Eat your tail, Sparrow Gallery, Incheon, Korea

 

Group Exhibitions

2024    Unbound playground, Gallery Chang, New York, NY

2023    GAP(Gallery+Art+People), S-Factory, Seoul, Korea

             Korea Art London, Mall Gallery, London, UK

2022    Light & Art Festival, Blink Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH

             Momenart Project, The Noncontemporaneity of the Contemporary,

             127 William Street, New York, NY

2021     KARTZ Art shapes the future, Nodeul Island, Seoul, Korea

              More than More, Seoho Gallery, Namyangju, Korea

 

Art Fairs

2022     KIAF 2022, Gallery JJ, Seoul, Korea

              Art Busan, Gallery JJ, Busan, Korea

2021     Urban Break Art Asia, Coex, Seoul, Korea

2020     Busan International Art Show, Busan, Korea

2019     Seoul Plastic Art Fair, Coex, Seoul Korea

2018     Affordable Art Fair, Singapore

             Asia Contemporary, Hong Kong

             Kintex Art Asia, Goyang, Korea

             Seoul Art Show, Coex, Seoul, Korea

 

Collections

Pfizer Korea, Munhaksoocheop Publishing, Park Young Foundation, Gordon Ramsay Burger, Sofitel Ambassador Hotel Seoul - Latitude 32, Official residence of the South Korean Ambassador to the UK. 

 

Collaborations

Samgsun Mobile, LG Display, New Era Korea, Makku KBrews

Press Release

WORKS ON VIEW

Works

EDITIONS

Editions
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