JAKUPSIL

JAKUPSIL Residency in Collaboration with Gallery JJ

This exhibition marks the culmination of Suh Yongsun’s recent residency in New York, realized through JAKUPSIL—a creative collective based in New York—and presented in collaboration with Gallery JJ. Conceived as a platform for sustained artistic engagement, JAKUPSIL offers selected artists the time and space to deepen their practice in a global context. Suh’s time in residence was shaped by the urban density and layered cultural history of New York, offering a critical extension of the themes that have long defined his work. The current exhibition brings together a new body of paintings and drawings developed during his time at 300 Morgan Avenue, providing a resonant lens into both place and perception.

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Press Release

“Today, tomorrow, yesterday, the bland world gives us back our own reflection.”

– Charles Baudelaire, The Flowers of Evil, 1857

Gallery JJ is pleased to present 300 Morgan Avenue, a solo exhibition by Suh Yongsun, renowned for his profound exploration of human existence through painting. Marking his fifth exhibition with Gallery JJ, it features works created during his recent residency in New York, highlighting a key aspect of his ongoing city painting series. Since his first visit to New York in 1992, Suh has returned about 25 times, with each stay lasting between two and six months. Over the years, New York has increasingly informed his city series, as his perspectives on urban life have been refined through years of local experience and deepened sensitivity. This exhibition delves into his firsthand encounters with the city, emphasizing the expansive and diverse expressions within his painterly space, and reflecting on the universal conditions of contemporary existence and the impact New York has had on his artistic practice.

300 Morgan Avenue refers to his summer 2024 residency address in Brooklyn. Featuring recent city series from 2024 alongside earlier works, the exhibition contextualizes his three-decade-long engagement with New York. Works on view include large paintings spanning over five meters, such as 34th St. (2017-2024), works on paper, and journal sketches. Suh portrays the discomfort and vulnerability of urban dwellers lost in the crowd, exploring how anonymity deepens isolation in the scenes of streets, cafes and subways. Nearly half of the exhibition is dedicated to subway scenes, including Metropolitan+Bushwick Station (2024), drawn from the station he frequented this past summer. His unique urban odyssey reframes these familiar public spaces, shedding new light on often-overlooked routines in urban transit. Given Korea's political and economic resemblance and ties with the United States, the capitalist mode of life in New York may resonate particularly well. The exhibition invites viewers on a fascinating journey to encounter themselves and their lives through the artist’s keen vision, fostering critical engagement with the social systems we inhabit and the divide between ideals and reality.

“The sound of haulers’ engines echoes outside the window. I hear the rush of air slicing through the dawn as vehicles speed by, and the dust-laden air of Brooklyn seeps into the room.” – Suh Yongsun, journal entry, New York, 2024

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Based in Seoul, Suh Yongsun has spent years in his studio in Yangpyeong while also immersing himself in metropolises worldwide, including Berlin, Melbourne, Sydney, Beijing, Paris, and Seattle. His time in New York has notably increased in recent years.