9 Questions with Ran-ae Ham

Ran-ae Ham is a contemporary artist who combines abstraction and figuration.

She held her first solo exhibition in March 2021, and received love calls from many galleries in a short period of time. Surprisingly, she is a non-major who has never been taught in the fierce art world.

With her unique work, she held a group exhibition at Western Gallery in 2021, and her work was mentioned in news articles and media. She was selected for the 2022 LAMER GALLERY to hold a solo exhibition and surprised many gallerists with her overwhelming work. Her exhibitions continue to this day. Her first early works can be seen at HONG LEE, a gallery in France, since 2021, and her current works can be seen at HEIMA GALLERY, Daegu. In February, an invited solo exhibition is being prepared at the Giovanni Gallery in Milan, Italy. Two works by Ham Ran-ae were also sponsored in the movie 'Bogota' starring Song Joong-ki and Lee Hee-jun, which is currently scheduled for release. Her works can also be seen in their upcoming films.

www.ranaeham.com | @ranae_ham

Heavy Emotions, Acrylic on canvas, 53x45.5 cm, 2021 © Ran-ae Ham

ARTIST STATEMENT

Although Ran-ae Ham's work starts from everyday life, her attempt to visually express the experience of the moment rather than simply explaining the situation is excellent. Her work is an attempt to express the experience of the moment she lived visually, but she already clearly grasps the world she needs to understand through painting.

An artist's innate material and individuality are as precious as life, and she captured that value early on. And regardless of fads or technologies, or the gaze and language of others, she will see the future through her own eyes. It faithfully depicts the time to move forward.

Ran-ae Ham can be said to be a non-figurative artist in the sense that she intuitively visualizes daily experiences without reproducing or explaining them with pictures. Some of the so-called non-representatives are lyrical and extremely turbulent, while others visualize and study mysterious experiences from the deep roots of human consciousness.

Curiously, if you look at the works of Ran-ae Ham, you can feel the extremely subjective and complex original texture of abstraction at a glance. This is thanks to her unique beauty of personality, which creates shapes without adornment and makes them shine again with colors.

INTERVIEW

What is your personal aim as an artist?

I want to share the many emotions I want to express with many people, and I want to publicize that art is not difficult at all and anyone can easily approach it.

Can you tell us about the process of creating your work? What aspect of your work do you pay particular attention to?

There are no propositions in my paintings. This is because we do not want any preconceived notions and prejudices according to the proposition. I only hope that the artwork can exist as a painting, by returning the feeling expressed in my pictures and the feeling that each audience feels. That is the only thing I wish for in my paintings.

Blooming emotions, Acrylic on canvas, 116x91 cm, 2021 © Ran-ae Ham

Let's talk about your color palette. How did you choose them, and what do they represent for you?

My paintings sometimes look like natural phenomena, but they are not volcanic eruptions, lava flows, ripples of waves, or the decomposition of raindrops. Instead, they are independent forms and colors that emerge from the overflowing fluidity of life.
However, in the end, a painting cannot be more or less than a painting. In the end, my belief that a painting must be a painting is no different from the wish that if you cut off the one hundred and eight afflictions, you will reach the realm of enlightenment.
Rather than the visible world, I am approaching the true nature of the inner space I seek by embodying the trembling and fluttering of the pure soul as an independent individual, as a living being, the artist, through repetition of shapes and colors.

Where do you draw inspiration from for your work? Do you have any specific references?

I hate frames. I hate restraint. I hate closed spaces. I hate limits. I can't stand being confined to my work in a closed space. I always wonder how an inorganic painting can be reduced to a work with a sense of life in nature and human space.
So, there is no frame to contain anything in my work, not even myself. Existing art frameworks, techniques, and numerous rules are sometimes too meaningless to me. So, my pieces move away from someone's evaluation, gaze, and language and move according to my own senses, emotions, and thoughts.

One day, my works look like waves that come and go over and over again in an endless sea, or they feel like waves of a mysterious sound that cannot be caught. On other days, I feel captured as the joys, sorrows, tears, laughter, smiles, regrets, hurts, pains, and anguishes of the past intertwined with the pounding of my heart and erupting.
In the picture, these wavelengths and patterns are generally called rhythms. I am discovering this rhythm through my own story and experience. The same is true of the works in this exhibition. While I am in the flow of Abstract Expressionism, I try to take a detached attitude without being bound by it. Break free from the yoke of abstraction and create novelty with your own patterns and your own individuality.

What is your favorite experience as an artist so far?

The things I want to say, the things I want to do, the things I want to feel, I am so happy that I can feel the freedom in it

Gesture of emotion, Acrylic on canvas, 53x45.5 cm, 2021 © Ran-ae Ham

Release, Acrylic on canvas, 53x45.5 cm, 2021 © Ran-ae Ham

What do you think about the art community and market? And how do you cultivate a collector base?

I don't think it's easy in the art world and the market. Many artists do a lot of activities, such as solo and group exhibitions, and study a lot. However, as many people do not make such efforts, I feel very upset as an artist, and it seems to be causing a lot of confusion in the artist's image and the art market.

What are you working on now, and what are your plans for the future? Anything exciting you can tell us about?

I am still preparing for the exhibition as an artist, and there will be an exhibition soon at the Antonio Batalia Gallery in Milan, Italy. And I will continue to create wonderful works that express my emotions with my signature. I'm working on an expensive emotional dance doodling.
Of course, I cherish the work I've done before, but the abstract doodle used in this new work is very interesting because it expresses emotions with dancing letters.

What is one lesson you learnt from this past year experience? And how did it help you further develop your art?

After all, a painting cannot be more or less than a painting. In the end, my belief that a painting must be a painting is no different from the wish that if you cut off the one hundred and eight afflictions, you will reach the realm of enlightenment.
A painting cannot exist outside of a single space, whether it is two-dimensional or three-dimensional, as it is a natural destiny. The limited canvas, the space the artist must adapt and dominate, can become a cradle of emotion or a grave of tragedy, depending on how he directs it.

Finally, share something you would like the world to know about you?

There is no frame to contain anything in my work. There are no propositions in my paintings. And I want to be famous as an artist. I want to sympathize with you and share rich emotions with you. I want to become more famous because I hope your heart will be warm with my works and paintings.

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