Gallery Insa1010 ( B1-4F, 10 Insadong 10-gil, Jongno-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea (03144) ) presents a special invitational solo exhibition featuring Gwangju-based artist Jiwon Son, running from August 5 to September 13, 2026.
Displayed across Galleries 1 and B, A Sound Mind showcases approximately forty oil paintings, including new works that capture the intersection of light, time, memory, and emotion.
Through delicate depictions of fleeting landscapes, the exhibition offers a quiet sanctuary of emotional recovery and inner peace amidst the relentless pace of contemporary life.
Son’s artistic practice centers on transitional moments when light dissolves—the ambiguous hours of dawn, twilight, and overcast skies where day and night blur.
Rather than documenting specific geographical locations, her canvases evoke universal yet elusive memories and emotions.
Light filtering through leaves, non-designated spaces that feel like paths, and dissolving boundaries between water and sky cross the threshold between reality and personal recollection, inviting viewers to overlay their own experiences onto her visual world.
The title A Sound Mind does not signify an unshakeable, flawless mental state, but rather the resilience and balance to return to one's center amid anxiety and confusion.
In an era dominated by rapid information streams and fatigue, Son emphasizes a flexible strength—the capacity to pause, breathe, and regain emotional balance.
Her paintings capture the beauty of incomplete reality, reminding audiences not to shrink their capacity for love out of fear.
Rather than relying on literal representation, Son constructs her landscapes through a process of subtraction and emotional addition.
Working from photographs taken during spontaneous walks and travels, she strips away objective details, applying multiple thin layers of oil paint onto coarse linen.
This meticulous layering creates a soft, luminous depth where the temperature of light emerges from the accumulated thickness of time.
In her signature fireworks series, she uses fine brushes to build light point by point, focusing not on the explosive peak of detonation, but on the quiet afterglow that lingers in the air.
She elevates non-luminous elements—such as insect wings, glass shards, and dew drops—showing how light connects unseen fragments to form unexpected paths.
Son's nuanced approach has earned significant attention from critics and major art institutions.
Recognized as a promising voice in modern Korean lyrical landscape painting, she was selected for the Rising Star exhibition at Art Gwangju 25 and invited to participate in the 2025 Oh Ji-ho Art Award exhibition at the Gwangju Museum of Art.
A Sound Mind invites visitors exploring the Insadong gallery district to step inside, slow their breathing, and rediscover their inner balance through the gentle, enduring warmth of Son's painted light.
The name Gallery Insa1010 originates directly from its street address at 10 Insadong 10-gil. Built upon a historic gallery site that nurtured the early careers of countless artists, the space has been newly renovated into an elegant, sophisticated cultural venue.
Spanning from the basement level to the fourth floor, each exhibition space possesses its own distinct architectural mood, providing a versatile backdrop for diverse art forms.
On the second floor, Tea Lounge TNI1010 offers a relaxing sanctuary where visitors can sip tea while gazing out at the historic streets of Insadong and the distant peak of Bukaksan Mountain.
Gallery Insa1010 honors the rich tradition of Insadong’s authentic gallery legacy while acting as a bridge across generations and artistic fields.
The gallery actively collaborates with creative visionaries across all disciplines and warmly invites art enthusiasts, curators, and artists seeking exhibition opportunities to connect and share in its space.
