[2026 Frieze LA] Ahn Jisan | 26 February - 1 March 2026

Ahn Jisan (b.1979)

Ahn Jisan’s painting questions the factuality of media images. He begins by collecting images from the media, then processes them in various forms such as drawings, collages, miniatures, before finally applying oil paint to the canvas. His depiction of objects in specific settings is strangely distorted and accentuated by the material properties. Ahn layers paint thickly, crafting a tactile contrast, emphasizing the physical versus the virtual world and the real versus the unreal. Ahn intends to express the raw visual state and absorbed emotions of the subject, realized through experienced and penetrated emotions. Instead of portraying the subject through obvious imagery, Ahn expresses the reality and emotional experience of the subject through instinctual expression and empathetic connection.

Ahn Jisan has had solo exhibitions in various venues, including solo exhibitions at Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea; Galerie Bart, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Zaha Museum, Seoul, South Korea and Hapjungjigu, Seoul, South Korea. He has also participated in group exhibitions at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, South Korea; Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Ansan, South Korea; Savina Museum, Seoul, South Korea; Kunsthalle Münster, Münster, Germany; Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, South Korea; ARKO Art Center, Seoul, South Korea; and Gallery LUMC, Leiden, Netherlands. He participated in a residency at Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam, Netherlands in 2013 - 2014 and was awarded the “Buning Brongers Prijzen” in 2014.