Buhm Hong Weaves Memory and Emotion Into Captivating Artistic Landscapes

Exploring the Interplay Between Memory and Space Through Art

Buhm Hong’s art transcends time, inviting audiences to explore memory and emotion through innovative techniques in drawing and video.

Buhm Hong stands as a mesmerizing force in the contemporary art world, captivating audiences with his profound exploration of memory, place, and emotion. Born in Seoul in 1970 and now thriving in the vibrant cultural landscape of New York, Hong has developed a unique artistic voice that masterfully combines photography, video, computer art, and industrial design. His educational journey through School of Visual Arts and Hong Ik University laid the foundation for a prolific career marked by an exceptional blend of media and concepts.

Hong’s solo exhibitions, such as “Memories of the Future” and “Luminous Links,” reveal an artist who dares to traverse the boundaries between past, present, and future, intertwining them in a seamless tapestry of experience and imagination. His group exhibitions further attest to his versatility and ability to resonate with diverse audiences, transcending geographical and cultural barriers.

Through his innovative use of graphite finger painting and tempera techniques, Hong transforms the intricate layers of memory into visual masterpieces. He effortlessly evokes the temporality of memory and the emotional depth of personal experiences, inviting viewers to embark on reflective journeys through their own memories and emotions. Patterns reminiscent of nature, like waves and tree rings, emerge naturally from his intimate process, creating a dialogue between the organic and the imagined.

His artworks serve as dynamic landscapes where viewers can uncover hidden codes and engage with the mysterious interplay of known and unknown memories. By drawing upon his childhood attic and crafting spaces that evolve from his profound emotional connections, Hong fosters a realm where imagination and nostalgia dance in harmony.

Hong’s dedication to experimenting with art techniques such as egg tempera signifies his reverence for art history and his ambition to impart timeless emotion through color and form. Inspired by artists like Giotto, Hong’s work embodies a beautiful convergence of simplicity and depth. His pieces are not mere reflections of his own past but vibrant starting points for audiences to weave their personal narratives, connecting with the universal yet personal language of memory.

WowwART Magazine is thrilled to present this interview with Buhm Hong, whose work is not only a mirror of his soul but also an open invitation for others to discover the profound magic within their own memories.

Can you describe the artistic process behind your graphite finger paintings, particularly the techniques you use for shading and texture?

This work begins with recalling a memory that I hold dear in my heart. That memory includes specific emotions and places. The first step is to sketch on paper while connecting the structure of those emotions and spaces. Once the sketch is complete, I finish the outline with a pen and fill the entire surface with very thin lines. After that, I complete the drawing by adding shading with graphite powder and pencils. The line work that fills the surface naturally creates a flow similar to wood grain, with each line having a different shape. I think these drawn lines show the temporality of the memory, like the wrinkles of a person.

What role do personal memories and interactions play in inspiring your artwork, and can you share a specific example?

I think of memory as a kind of secret second house. It can be said to be an old place where objects and places from the past occupy space. In my imagination, memories are easily connected to or related to similar memories. Therefore, memories of different times and places are likely to be clustered together or form unpredictable, bizarre, and unique structures. An exact expression of this idea is the video work ‘moments, the first movement.’ This work is a video that shows spaces created with 3D modeling of places and moments that I remember impressively. The structure, which looks like a small village in the shape of a donut, is an ongoing work because it continuously records and maps new memories experienced or moments discovered in memories. This video is titled ‘the first movement’ because it was the first to show the spaces created at that time in 2023.

When working on detailed architectural layouts in your drawings, how do you approach the design challenges you encounter?

Whether it’s a drawing or a structure in an animation, I create it while thinking about the places I remember and based on the emotions and stories of moments in those memories. Therefore, the spaces in my work are similar to the original spaces in my memories, but they are not the same. For example, in my animation ‘visit: my old room,’ the attic from my childhood had a narrow and very small door, but I depicted the door as rotating open and the small door as being very long like a deep alley. In this way, I capture the feelings and emotions of the space and moments in my memories through various structural changes.

Your work often incorporates patterns that resemble natural elements like waves and tree rings—do these patterns emerge intentionally, or are they a spontaneous part of your process?

As mentioned in the previous question, those lines are not drawn consciously but are the result of drawing lines at regular intervals naturally. I felt that lines that are slightly curved naturally, rather than straight lines drawn with a ruler, are more human. As similar curves overlap next to those lines, effects like waves or tree rings naturally emerge, which I liked because it felt like the waves of memory.

What impact do you hope your artwork will have on viewers, and how do you want them to engage with the ideas and emotions in your pieces?

I hope that viewers discover something in my work that allows them to recall their own memories. Like someone discovering a new place, I hope they look at the spaces in my drawings or animations with curiosity and find some part that interacts with their inner self. The spaces I draw are places I have lived in, and since they contain my memories, I have hidden my own codes in those spaces. However, as someone who does not share the same memories, others will not be able to know everything unless I explain it all. But the unknown, the parts that cannot be fully known, activate our imagination. Such imagination mostly starts from our memories. I want my drawings to be the beginning of a story where people spread their wings of imagination and unfold their own stories.

How has experimenting with egg tempera influenced your connection to art history, and what new insights has this technique given you about your own work?

Personally, I really like Giotto’s paintings. His simple yet honest expressions convey his warm gaze to me across the ages. As you know, Giotto worked with tempera, and I have wanted to use this medium for a long time. Tempera painting is a very demanding medium, and expressions that can be easily achieved with oil or watercolor take a lot of time with tempera. However, I really like the process of tempera, where gradients and soft volumes are created by building up lines like in a drawing. The three-dimensional yet flat feeling is like a black-and-white drawing, and the color expression is good, allowing for the inclusion of primal color emotions. Especially in tempera, the colors play a crucial role in expressing the emotions of the moment contained in the memory and the emotions of seeing that moment now. It seems to have the advantage of being able to express more delicately and diversely than when drawn in black and white.