The artistic landscape of Seoul was recently graced by a profound meditation on temporality as artist Tiffany Chan’s group exhibition, Steeds of Time, opened its doors at Gallery SeeFood Room(seefoodroom.com ) on January 31 and reached its evocative conclusion on February 1.
Throughout this concentrated showcase, Chan presents a poetic celebration of time where horses transcend the traditional racetrack to emerge as elegant symbols of eternal vitality against a backdrop of constant flow.
By capturing the inherent strength of the present moment while pointing toward infinite possibility, the works utilize a pure visual language to honor the primordial life force that animates all things.
The genesis of this collection began with a fundamental visual inquiry into how one might render the invisible nature of time, leading the artist to intentionally erase all specific narratives—including jockeys, spectators, and markers of victory—to leave only the instinctual force of the charging animal.
To witness these riderless steeds is to encounter living embodiments of time itself, engaged in a destinationless journey across an abstract space that challenges our conventional relationship with permanence.
The intermingling blocks and lines within the flowing color fields are essential to the work, as they constitute the very texture of time by blending the sedimentation of history with the premonitions of the future.
Within each canvas, the modulation of hues from radiant brilliance to profound darkness narrates a cycle of becoming and passing, allowing the horses' powerful forms to capture the "now" while their blurred motion extends the instant.
This approach is far removed from a mere depiction of sport; it is a sublimation of the nature of being that draws from art history’s tradition of kinetic energy and reintegrates it into a contemporary, meditative context.
At the core of Chan’s exploration is a focus on the primordial force behind all change, where the secular notions of competition dissolve into a more fundamental state of existence.
In this silent and majestic gallop, the artist reveals a profound beauty that balances power with fragility and transience with timelessness.
Ultimately, the exhibition functions as a visual poem dedicated to the invisible forces governing the universe, transforming classic sporting imagery into a sophisticated vessel for philosophical contemplation.
Every brushstroke on the canvas serves as a silent witness to the passage of seconds, ensuring that every leap of these steeds remains a pulse of existence suspended between the tangible world and the eternal.
