Museum Solo & Tour Exhibitions
Color Me Black
Travelling Solo Exhibition
The Kim Bo Seong Art Center
Seoul, South Korea
30 December 2024 to 15 January 2025
Color Me Black
A Travelling Solo Exhibition
Yeosu Art Museum
24 September to 16 October 2024 South Korea
Travelling Solo Exhibition in South Korea At Daesan Art Museum September 2024
Photos by kind courtesy of Mr Kim Choul Soo, Director, Daesan Art Museum, South Korea
Photos by kind courtesy of Mr Kim Choul Soo, Director, Daesan Art Museum, South Korea
Photos by kind courtesy of Mr Kim Choul Soo, Director, Daesan Art Museum, South Korea
Color Me Black
A Solo Exhibition by Gloria Keh
Presenting 20 paintings predominently in black
Haegeumgang Theme Museum/Yukyung Art Museum, South Korea
July/August 2024
Color Me Black is the title of this exhibition, as black is my favourite color.
I love painting in black, because in black I see all colors, dancing together, blending into each other, and becoming One.
Personally, I also believe in The Void, and that God, for want of a better word, emerged from this Void. And the color of The Void is black.
Black is all colors.
Black is the color of renunciation, and I thrive in silence and solitude.
The Japanese fashion designer, Issey Miyake, once declared that there are 12 shades of black. And when I work with black, I experience his words. Black is mysterious, dynamic, soulful.
One of my favourite artists, is the late French painter, Pierre Soulages. He was known as the black painter.
Mixed media on linen 178 cm x 210 cm 2024 Notes: Although many claim that black is a non color, to me black is all colors Just like white. If you split white light through a prism, you will behold the seven colors of the rainbow. Similarly, combine all those seven colors and you can create black.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2024 Notes: An addition to my ongoing Cosmic Series. Expressing fields of ripples in space-time. Thinking about the quark, a member of a group of elementary subatomic particles. Imagine something so small, and yet so essential to life. The individual energy of a single quark might not move mountains. Yet this very small particle plays an important part in all of creation.
Mixed media on canvas 80 cm x 80 cm 2024 Notes: To me, the circle is a sacred space of oneness that paves the way to peace. Life is cyclic. This fascination with the circle inspired the work comprising of freehand circles.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2024 Notes: With age, many memories are slowly but surely fading; but more often than not, I will remember a particular event or a particular person, a song, or a poem, that will spearhead the creative process of artmaking. Memories remain precious.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2024 Notes: The Oversoul is said to be the basis of all existence. Research attests that the Oversoul, attributed as the absolute reality, is “conceived as a spiritual being in which the ideal nature of human beings is perfect.”
Mixed media and Thai Sa paper on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2024 Notes: The Light is ever present. Without light, it would be impossible to apprehend darkness. There is this amazing Light within each and everyone. To me it is an energy of positive healing consciousness. It is my inner guide, that shows me the way. If I stay connected with it.
Mixed media on canvas 60 x 77 cm 2024 Notes: Pisces, the 12th sign of the western zodiac is all about directions and choices that are often opposing. The work shows two fishes swimming in opposite directions, honoring the symbols of this astrological sign.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2024 Notes: A textural piece depicting the many layers and textures of life. Black brings colors together. It gives contrast to colors, and thus to life. It is an agreeable color. It can stand on its own or be in a community with other colors. It is a great background color, hence affirming its quality of offering support to other colors.
Mixed media on linen 60 cm x 122 cm 2024 Notes: Through the passage of time, the moon has inspired countless poets, artists and musicians. The work depicts what's known as the ocean of storms, the largest dark spot on the moon. And hopes to express in abstraction, a moon storm.
Mixed media on canvas 60 x 92 cm 2024 Notes: Both personally, and spiritually, there is always room for inner transformation. Butterflies, symbols of transformation, take centerstage in this work.
Acrylic on linen 79 cm x 203 cm 2024 Notes: As an artist, it is important that one reflects on one’s work. Especially on works that are in progress. I personally find it essential to introspect, to question not just art but life situations.
Notes: The above photo shows three paintings placed against the sides of each other. The 3 distinct paintings are connected. And were painted as a flow. The 3 part work depicts the stories of our lives: divided into 3 stages: - Childhood/teenage years - Adulthood - Old Age
Mixed media on canvas 120 cm x 60 cm 2024
Mixed media on canvas 120 cm x 60 cm 2024
Mixed media on canvas 120 cm x 60 cm 2024
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2023 Notes: The work evokes images of early beginnings. The time spent in mother’s womb, and even before conception. Four small canvas panels were painted and collaged onto the work. The numeral 4 and the square shapes are associated with foundation.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2023 Notes: The work honors the Yin and Yang, and reminds us of the need for balance, harmony of mind and body. Yin and Yang is traditionally depicted in white and black. The auspicious 100 Blessings were printed on white metal rounds and collaged onto the work.
Mixed media on canvas 60 cm x 120 cm 2023 Notes: The work examines the cycles of life. How one is reborn. What is waiting to come into manifestation? The eggs of life to be hatched.
Mixed media on canvas 60 cm x 120 cm 2023 Notes: This is part of my ongoing Waves Series and pays tribute to my continued fascination with waves. Not just the ever changing waves of oceans and seas, but with the many different waves of life.
Mixed media on linen 152 cm x 122 cm 2023 Notes: What is our Persona? Are we really who we appear to be? How many faces can one have? How many masks do we put on to transact in this world? Inspired by the wisdom of Shakespeare, who once wrote that ‘all the world’s a stage.’
Ink on canvas 122 cm x 152 cm 2024 Notes: In life we are presented with endless choices, and often need to discern as to which direction we want to pursue……what are the pathways we should ideally follow. The work depicts the countless pathways we encounter in life.
SEASONS
A solo art exhibition by Gloria Keh, Singapore
At the Chang Kil Hwan Art Museum, South Korea.
April & May 2023
Twenty artworks specially painted for Fantapia M The Kil Hwan Chang Art Museum, South Korea.
When the word seasons is mentioned, the mind immediately conjures images of foliage and landscapes of temperate countries that enjoy the four seasons of the year, namely Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.
Yes, indeed, the seasons do often mean just that: being the changing climates of the year. But what about the seasons of the mind, and the seasons of one’s mortal life?
Isn’t Spring synonymous with birth, renewal, growth and promise? When colors are soft and gentle. The age of childhood, youth and young adulthood? And Summer a time of life thats vibrant, charged with energy and passion? Perhaps the age group when one is in one’s 20s to 40’s? A time for the quest of sensory pleasures?
Then we have the Autumn of life, when we begin to let go, a time of maturity, confidence and assurance. And finally, we enter the Winter of our lives - a time of wisdom, quietude, perhaps of prayer, solitude and gratitude.
There are no hard and fast rules to the timing of these stages of life. No particular year when one can say ‘this is the summer of my life’. For in the mind, the seasons do overlap, and often in one’s emotional life, one can even experience the four seasons in just a day, if not in just an hour.
The 20 paintings in this collection presents the four SEASONS in the life of an earthling. Each season comprises of five paintings.
The colors start from the darkness of being in utero, graduating to the lighter, softer colors of spring; entering boldly into the summer of life; and then unveiling the rich warm autumnal hues so synonymous with the season of Fall. Finally, blues and whiter shades of pales for winter, take centrestage, ending with the artist’s favourite color - Black.
Then, the circle is complete: we started in black and end predominently in black. For black is all colors and the color of The Void.
I invite you to take this journey with me - through the seasons of life, expressed in colors, and abstraction.
Spring
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Life begins for the baby in a safe comfort zone - in the darkness of its mother’s womb. All is silent. Calm. The foetus spends nine months in meditation, wondering what awaits when it leaves this warm place and joins humanity.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The baby is born. And is still connected by an invisible umbilical cord to its mother. The breast offers nourishment, nurturing and love. Yellow colors a major part of the canvas. It is the color of The Light. A color associated with happy times, and satisfaction.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Just as new seedlings begin to take root and grow in Spring, the baby too begins to grow into childhood. This stage can be experienced in the mind of an adult, when it opens the mind to new ideas, new concepts, new teachings. When we learn, we grow.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: One of the most beautiful feelings associated with childhood is that sense of awe, that experience of bewilderment. Like the first time, your parents took you to a toy store, or in later years, the first time you saw your own newborn child. Or when you look up at a midnight sky and see stars twinkling in unison. The day we lose our sense of awe is a sorry day indeed.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: It is said in ancient Hindu scriptures that the entire universe is the result of ‘lila’. A sanskrit word I love: that means play. As children, we played, without inhibitions, losing ourselves in our imagination and raw creativity. But as we grew up, we changed, and act often to conform to the norms and yardsticks of society. We act to be liked and accepted. Could it well be that in doing so, we have lost our individuality? If not, our soul?
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Oh to be young and bursting with high energy. Like the warm heat of summer, this is the age when we court the pleasures of life with wild abandon. We go for broke. Feeling on top of the world. Invincible.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The heat is on. Fired with determination and fueled with invigorating energy, we think ourselves ready to take on the world. It is a time of relentless drive. Our passion is inexhaustible. Colors are bright, sizzling.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Colors remain brilliant expressing the zest one has for life in the summer of one’s existence. Colors dance to the moving energies in this stage of one’s life. The thought of the need to slow down never crosses one’s mind. Do we stop to consider if we are moving too fast? But then, when one is young, one lives constantly on the move, even on the razor’s edge - one does not have time to make moments last.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The work expresses the abundance of many things. Just like harvests reap fruit and produce in summer, the young mind generates a plethora of ideas. There is a great supply of energy, brute strength. Abundance abounds.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The season of summer is synonymous with holidays and good times. People tend to venture more outdoors, to bask in the warm sunlight. It is a season bringing endless opportunities for enjoyment. Joy goes beyond happiness, beyond pleasures. It is a deep feeling of absolute contentment, of a fullness that can only be experienced with a sense of gratitude.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The colors of autumn are warm, rich and intense. As we process the autumnal years of our lives, we often revel in our achievements; having attained a level of satisfaction, and success. Most of our goals at this third stage of life have been met. Colors denoting success are sumptuous - the auspicious red and precious gold.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Autumn suggests a time for making changes. Like the falling leaves of the season, we start to slowly let go. These changes have to be made sooner or later, and if we do not take responsibility to change, life, nature, the universe, will force us to finally change.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2023 Description: As we retreat within more and more, we begin to introspect. Our ponderings deepen. We begin to spend more time on self healing. We get in touch with our spirituality. We question our needs, our desires, knowing deep within that our best bet would be to go with The Flow. For when you are in that Flow of Life, the Flow will support you.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The climatic seasons abide by the Order of Nature. They work hand in hand with all that there is, guided by a higher intelligence. Flowers dont make a fuss when it is time to die. They sacrifice themselves and many give rise to fruit, so that humankind can eat. Detachment is one of the ways to a peaceful existence. It is only possible with proper discernment and discrimination.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: In the beautiful Lord’s Prayer, it is said Thy will be done. Similarly, there is a Sanskrit wisdom Isvara Pranidhana, which means surrender to the will of God. This surrender does not come from a point of defeat, but from a place of humility and trust. This is one way to look at Acceptance. We waste too much energy fighting acceptance. Wanting things our way. Once there is acceptance, any problem can be solved.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: In the winter of our lives, it is a time for gratitude. To reach one’s golden years, to look back on a life hopefully well spent, well lived. Knowing one has done one’s level best to fulfill one’s soul’s purpose. That no stone has been left unturned. That one has ideally left a mark, a legacy. Yes, the physical body might be frail but let the mind be filled with contentment and vitality.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Do not see the golden years as that of just old age. Rather see it as a time of living wisdom. Reflect on one’s life and the many experiences, adventures from which one has learnt. Be thankful for the knowledge others have shared with us. How this knowledge has been lived, experienced, and now has been transformed into wisdom. This wisdom has been well earned. Through blood, sweat and tears. It is now the time to pass on one’s wisdom.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: In the winter stages of life, one often retreats inwards. Solitude is no longer a stranger. It becomes a constant companion. A friend. One prefers to be far from the maddening crowd. It is a time for contemplation, perhaps prayer. Pain might prevail: yet even if one may be in pain, one need not suffer. For although pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: An expression in white, symbolising the presence of The Light. Yet white is all colors. Pass light through a prism and behold how the light splits into the seven colors of the rainbow. The golden years of the winter of our lives should ideally be spent in enjoying peaceful hours. In communion with nature, connecting with Spirit. It is a time of quietude, and gratitude. Sans fear and anxieties.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Finally, there is the inevitable. Death comes a calling. Death that horrid beauty as once described by a hindu swami. The artist does not see death as her end. It is only the demise of the physical body. The artist believes in absorption: into the oneness of all that there is. Being still human, of course, there are apprehensions, anxieties. Hence, let us remind ourselves that one is much more than just this physical body.
Summer
Autumn
Winter
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ENERGY Solo Exhibition
at the Yeosu Art Museum, South Korea
19 to 30 December 2022
Organised by the Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Geoje, South Korea
Tour Exhibition arranged by the Haegeumgang Theme Museum, South Korea.
At the BNK Kyongnam Bank Gallery
Exhibition period: November 21st - December 2nd, 2022
Energy Tour Exhibition
Busan Dongnae Cultural Center, Busan, South Korea.
Arranged by the Haegeumgamg Theme Museum.
Solo exhibition ENERGY at Daesan Art Museum, South Korea,
15 October - 7 November 2022
ENERGY
Solo Exhibition
Yukyung Art Museum/Haegeumgang Theme Museum
South Korea
Press Releases:
[Geoje Times] Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Gloriake Artist Special Exhibition
http://www.geojetimes.co.kr/news/articleView.html...
[Geoje Journal] Haegeumgang Theme Museum, What is Our Origin 'ENERGY' Exhibition
http://www.geojejournal.co.kr/news/articleView.html...
[Geoje News Eye] Geoje Haegeumgang Theme Museum, energy from the creation of the universe to the present
http://www.newseyegeoje.com/news/articleView.html...
[Saegeoje Newspaper] Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Special Exhibition of Famous Overseas Artists
http://www.saegeoje.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=218550
[Gyeongnam Day Daily] Haegeumgang Theme Museum, Gloria Ke ‘Energy’ exhibition held
http://www.gnnews.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=503316
Other Links:
Feature in ITSLIQUID
https://www.itsliquid.com/featuredartist-gloria-keh-02.html
Feature article in PRAXIS Magazine - August 2022 issue
A four page article with a back cover feature in Praxis, an art publication.
Mixed media on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm 2021 Description: The first painting in the First Quartet in The Energy Series. Energy emerges and comes into being.
Mixed media on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm 2021 Description: The second painting from The First Quartet of The Energy Series. Following the emergence of energy, creation begins. Starting with the creation of the cosmos.
Mixed media on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm 2021 Description: The third painting from The First Quartet of The Energy Series. The cosmos has been created: the planets are in place. The Creator turns its attention to the planet Earth. Nature is then created. Earth will soon be an inhabitable place.
Mixed media on canvas 90 cm x 90 cm 2021 Description: The fourth painting of The First Quartet from The Energy Series. Nature flourishes. There are mountains, oceans, rivers and brooks. In the midst of all these wonders of creation, man is created.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: If man only needed air, food, water and medications to survive, he would never die. But to be able to live, man needs an inner energy: a lifeforce. The Chinese call it chi, the Japanese call it ki as in akido, and interestingly enough, in Hebrew it is known as ruach which means the breath of God. This is a very powerful energy, without which life would cease to be.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: The basic instinct of man is to survive. Be it daily survival of earning a living, to survival in a war, from drowning in an ocean, to survival in the corporate marketplace, to recovering from deadly diseases. Energy is channeled towards achieving and maintaining this survival. Red, which predominates in this work, is synonymous with blood, passion, high energy as well as serves as a warning color to alert us of impending dangers.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Once man has managed to survive and maintain a livelihood, man turns his attention to creation. He creates a home, maintains a garden, creates wealth and luxuries for himself and his family. Being comfortable and financially stable, he is able to extend his energy towards creations. The work includes the warm hues of the dynamism of reds and orange. Orange is a color associated with the creative energy center of the physical body.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Being able to survive, and having procreated, man leaves no stones unturned until he achieves the level of satisfaction his heart desires. The question remains: does man only aim to satisfy himself and at most his family? Does he ever care to satisfy the needs of others? Yellow is the color associated with the energy center of the solar plexus of the physical body. A color denoting one’s quest for the sweetness of life.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Man has survived, he created a home for himself and his family and has gained satisfaction. Only then will he begin to share his worldly goods with others. He begins to care, to discriminate and to share with others, working from the energy center of his heart. The color associated with this center is green, the color of Mother Nature that shares all her goodness with us earthlings.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: In his quest for higher knowledge, man exerts his will to know, to communicate not just with others, but with his higher self. This is not mere book knowledge. This is a deeper profound journey to connect with one’s true being. To seek The Truth. And in doing so, the aspirant is healed. Blue predominates as blue is a color synonymous with calm, serenity and healing.
Mixed media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: This is a very fine yet powerful energy that acts beyond that of mere basic instincts. Higher faculties are being developed. Man’s spiritual journey reaches a point when mundane everyday things do not matter anymore. There is a great sense of contentment. Man experiences an inner peace that is above all understanding. The color associated with this energy center is indigo. The color of the deep unending absorbing midnight sky.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: So often in life, we are fragmentated; being of two minds, chasing our own tails. But there is this higher purpose in life, and it is left to the individual how, when and if, he or she would like to pursue and fulfil this purpose. Many seek a Wholeness, to be at one with all that there is. Such an intent is not commonplace. The color linked to the highest energy center is purple.
Mixed media on canvas 90 cm x 60 cm 2022 Description: In the functioning of the brain and the non-physical mind, a great deal of energy comes into play. This is a very important energy as mental health is paramount in ensuring one’s well being.
Acrylic on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: In this present age, the internet seems to rule the day. And proves repeatedly indispensable. The artist expresses cyberspace, in abstraction. This is a realm fueled by an amazing incredible energy. A pulsating powerhouse of energy.
Mixed Media on canvas 100 cm x 100 cm 2022 Description: Water is so necessary for life. Water has great purifying and healing energy. Water cleanses, cools, refreshes and rejuvenates. Water is also a source of tremendous energy. The abstraction honors the power of the energy of water.
Acrylic on canvas 65 cm x 65 cm 2022 Description: We return to the beginning: to examine and ponder upon The Source.
Acrylic on canvas 65 cm x 65 cm 2022 Description: Introspection continues….we begin to question? Where did all that there is come from? What is this Source? Where did I come from? We strive to find the answers. But are the answers The Truth?
Acrylic on canvas 65 cm x 65 cm 2022 Description: We contemplate upon The Source. We begin to notice apprehensions, fears. We wonder about the end of time and days. We ask “is The Source exhaustible?”
Mixed media on canvas 60 cm x 76 cm 2022 Description: This is the energy of the celestial. The energy of angels and the heavens. Colors are soft, tranquil.
Mixed media on canvas 60 cm x 76 cm 2022 Description: Man reaches nirvana, heaven, paradise. He becomes One with all that there is. Arriving and being absorbed into Infinity. Words cease to be. One cannot describe the infinite with the finite. Ah!