Green — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

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In the realm of contemporary art, Green's art emerges as a compelling narrative of resistance and introspection, challenging the deeply entrenched societal norms that dominate our lives. His vibrant canvases, marked by raw, dynamic gestures and unrelenting emotional energy, offer a profound critique of the modern world. Green's journey from a high-level corporate career to a life of artistic pursuit is not just a tale of personal transformation but a testament to the power of art as a medium of self-discovery and societal reflection.

Green’s story begins in South Korea, navigating the demanding corridors of corporate life, serving as an assistant to a prominent politician, and later as a senior leader in design firms. Yet, amidst this success lay a profound inner conflict—a sense of dissonance between the roles he played and his deeper calling as an artist. This tension drove Green to relocate to London, where he embraced painting as his ultimate form of expression. His migration symbolizes a defiance against societal expectations, a recurring theme that courses through his work.

London, with its rich cultural tapestry and dynamic art scene, provided Green with the fertile ground to cultivate his artistic voice. It was here that he completed his MA in Fine Art at Camberwell College of Arts, UAL, refining his craft and exploring the depths of his artistic intent. Green's practice is deeply informed by this juxtaposition of two worlds—South Korea, with its rigid social hierarchies and conformity, and London, a microcosm of diversity and individualism.

Green’s paintings are vivid, unfiltered outpourings of emotion. Using unmixed oil paints applied directly to raw canvas, he crafts compositions that pulse with vitality and tension. The uninhibited nature of his technique—bold brushstrokes, palette knife incisions, and splashes of vivid color—becomes a conduit for his inner turmoil. Each stroke resonates with guilt, anger, anxiety, and confusion, creating a layered narrative that invites the viewer into his psyche.

One cannot help but marvel at the intensity of Green’s visual language. In works like Stab Me in the Back and Road to Heaven, the interplay of vibrant colors and stark, gestural marks conveys a palpable sense of conflict. These compositions exude a duality—chaos and control, spontaneity and deliberation—that mirrors the complexities of human emotion. His use of raw canvas is particularly striking, allowing negative space to become a silent, yet potent, participant in the dialogue of his works.

At the heart of Green’s practice lies a critique of contemporary society. Drawing from his experiences in South Korea and the UK, Green confronts the pressures of competitiveness, inequality, and conformity that shape modern existence. His works serve as visual essays on the moral failings of our time—works such as Struggle for Existence and Mutant Excavator evoke a sense of dystopia, a world where the human spirit is strained under the weight of societal expectations.

Green’s art also taps into the broader philosophical questions of identity and freedom. His paintings, infused with elements of Korean folklore and mythology, navigate the terrain of collective versus individual identity. In Pinocchio Being Executed, for instance, the blending of contemporary cultural motifs with primal mythological references creates a haunting allegory of control and liberation. The viewer is compelled to question the constructs of morality, justice, and autonomy.

For Green, painting is an act of catharsis—a release of pent-up emotion and a reclamation of self. This sense of urgency is evident in his process. The thick, vigorous application of oils, sometimes straight from the tube, and the aggressive slashes of the palette knife are manifestations of his inability to contain or suppress his emotions. The act of creation becomes a dialogue between the artist and his canvas, a space where vulnerability meets courage.

Green’s works also possess a surprising element of humor. Amidst the intensity of his critique, there are moments of levity that suggest resilience and hope. This duality—pain and humor, despair and redemption—is what makes his work so profoundly human. That's Why We Are Separated captures this balance with its playful yet poignant exploration of relationships and separation.

Green’s art transcends the boundaries of personal expression, extending an invitation to the viewer to engage with the complexities of modern life. His works are not mere reflections of his inner world; they are mirrors held up to society, challenging us to confront our own roles within it. The rawness of his technique, coupled with the depth of his themes, creates an immediacy that demands attention.

This call to reflection is perhaps Green’s greatest contribution to contemporary art. In a world dominated by superficiality and distraction, his paintings compel us to pause, to feel, and to question. His work invites us to consider how we, too, can become agents of change, fostering a world rooted in empathy and equity.

As a prolific painter, Green has firmly established himself as a vital voice in the contemporary art scene. His participation in exhibitions such as Bring Your Light at the Nunnery Gallery and Surging Silence at Hypha Studios has positioned him as an artist of significance. His curatorial work in the trio-exhibition A Mighty Gust further underscores his commitment to fostering dialogue within the art community.

What sets Green apart is his ability to weave personal narrative with universal themes. His work is deeply rooted in his lived experiences, yet it speaks to broader human truths. This universality, combined with his fearless approach to technique and content, ensures that his art will resonate across cultures and generations.

Green’s art is a testament to the transformative power of creativity. Through his dynamic, visceral canvases, he navigates the tensions of modern life, offering a critique that is both scathing and hopeful. His journey from corporate life to artistic liberation embodies the very themes he explores—identity, freedom, and the pursuit of authenticity.

In the words of Rosalind E. Krauss, great art “redefines the terms of its own making.”

Green’s work does precisely this. It challenges the conventions of painting, merging the personal and the political, the raw and the refined, to create a body of work that is as thought-provoking as it is visually arresting. In doing so, he not only carves out his place in the contemporary art world but also redefines what it means to be an artist in the 21st century. Green is not merely a painter; he is a visionary, a provocateur, and a vital voice in the ongoing dialogue of art and society.

Green’s artworks unfold like chapters of a richly woven narrative, each piece offering a glimpse into the tensions and triumphs of the human condition. His canvases are expansive terrains of raw emotion, where bold colors and unbridled gestures collide with silence and restraint. Every brushstroke is a sentence, every splash of color a word, and every bare canvas a pause—a deliberate silence that amplifies the chaos around it.

In Struggle for Existence, the viewer is drawn into a battle unfolding before their eyes, a chaotic dance of forms and colors. Vibrant reds and electric yellows clash violently against streaks of blue and green, suggesting a tension that feels both universal and personal. The composition teeters between creation and destruction, as though we are witnessing life wrestle its way into being. The raw canvas peeks through like an exposed wound, unhealed but defiant, reminding us that the struggle is ongoing. It is not just a scene of survival but a reflection of how we navigate societal expectations, competition, and conformity.

Then there’s Pinocchio Being Executed, a surreal and haunting allegory where myth collides with dystopia. Green reimagines the iconic wooden boy not as a whimsical character but as a symbol of moral failure and societal control. His execution feels less like a punishment for his lies and more like the erasure of individuality. In this piece, stark black lines slice through the canvas, resembling the strings of a marionette, while splashes of red suggest violence and rebellion. The palette shifts between bright humor and dark foreboding, evoking a discomfort that refuses resolution. The piece asks: Who holds the strings, and who cuts them? It is a question of autonomy in a world that demands obedience.

Hunting Daddy brims with an unsettling energy, its title suggesting a pursuit that is both playful and menacing. The composition is a swirling vortex of color, dominated by fiery oranges and deep blues that seem to coil like a predator waiting to strike. Sharp, angular lines dart across the canvas like arrows in flight, while softer strokes suggest a prey evading capture. The narrative tension is palpable, yet ambiguous—is this a hunt for approval, for revenge, or for understanding? Green leaves the interpretation open, but the emotional undercurrent is undeniable: the hunt is not just external but internal, a grappling with one’s own shadow.

The whimsical yet poignant Fall into Sweetness offers a tonal shift, though the narrative remains layered and complex. Here, Green employs pastel hues and curving, almost tender gestures to create an image that feels like a lullaby interrupted. It is as though the canvas is caught mid-dream, its soft strokes betraying an undercurrent of unease. Sweetness is not portrayed as simple pleasure but as a seductive trap—one that offers comfort while concealing its dangers. In the gentle swirl of colors, a quiet tension bubbles, reminding us that even sweetness has its weight.

Stab Me in the Back erupts with betrayal and anger. Jagged marks scar the canvas, their sharpness almost audible. Reds dominate, smeared and slashed across a background of neutral tones, as though the act of painting itself was an exorcism. The title is a dagger of its own, succinct and painful, forcing the viewer to confront the idea of trust and its destruction. Yet, amid the chaos, there are moments of precision—delicate lines drawn with an oil stick, almost like whispers within the shouting. These details hint at the complexity of betrayal: it is rarely as simple as an act of violence; it is a web of emotions, wounds, and realizations.

In Road to Heaven, Green takes us on a journey that is both spiritual and existential. The canvas feels like a map of the soul, with broad, sweeping strokes of white suggesting an ascension. However, the road is far from clear—it is riddled with splatters of vibrant yellow, piercing reds, and dark, foreboding blacks. The piece oscillates between hope and despair, as though heaven is not a destination but a perpetual state of striving. The rawness of the canvas adds to the narrative, its emptiness a reminder of what is yet to be filled, what is yet to be achieved.

Mutant Excavator veers into the realm of the surreal, where machines take on human qualities and vice versa. The titular excavator becomes a grotesque hybrid, its mechanical limbs tangled in organic forms. Green’s strokes are aggressive and layered, evoking the physicality of digging, both literally and metaphorically. The machine is a metaphor for labor, progress, and destruction—a commentary on humanity’s relentless drive to shape the world, often at the expense of the natural order. Yet, within the chaos, there are moments of beauty, as though the excavation has unearthed something sacred.

In That’s Why We Are Separated, the narrative becomes deeply personal. The composition is fragmented, with vibrant sections of the canvas seemingly torn apart by blank spaces. The lines that do connect are tenuous, fragile, as though any attempt to bridge the gap might shatter them entirely. The colors are poignant—soft blues and greens suggesting longing, while violent reds and yellows speak of anger and finality. The piece feels like a conversation interrupted, a relationship left unresolved. It is a visual lament for the spaces that grow between people, whether through choice, circumstance, or inevitability.

Green occupies a vital and transformative place in the contemporary art scene, a figure whose work speaks to the profound emotional and societal challenges of our time. His art is defined by its raw intensity, bold use of color, and unrelenting critique of modern life, placing him in dialogue with the legacy of Francis Bacon. Like Bacon, who explored the fragility of the human condition with visceral power and emotional depth, Green uses his canvases as a stage for existential inquiry. However, where Bacon’s work often dwells in despair, Green’s pieces introduce an element of humor and hope, suggesting a resilience that defies the weight of his critiques.

Green’s art shares with Bacon an immediacy that pulls viewers into the psyche of the artist. Both create works that are at once personal and universal, offering intimate glimpses of internal struggle while reflecting on broader societal pressures. Green’s energetic strokes and dynamic gestures mirror Bacon’s ability to transform the canvas into an arena of tension and release. Yet, Green’s incorporation of Korean mythology, folklore, and cultural critique adds a distinctive layer, expanding the conversation beyond personal torment to encompass themes of identity, conformity, and freedom.

In the contemporary art world, Green stands as a vital successor to the tradition of emotionally charged and socially conscious painting. His ability to channel his personal journey—from corporate life to artistic liberation—into works that resonate deeply with modern audiences positions him as a uniquely influential voice. Like Bacon, Green uses art not just as a medium of expression but as a mirror to human vulnerability and resilience, making him a powerful force in shaping the narrative of contemporary art. His work reminds us that art, at its best, is both a confrontation and a catharsis—a space where the chaos of life finds form and meaning.

By Marta Puig

Editor Contemporary Art Curator Magazine