Hejum Bä (b. 1987) explores the gap between trained perspectives and the visual-perceptual viewpoints shaped by familiar painting conventions through various media. Based on this interest, she has been experimenting with contemporary visual methodologies for understanding painting through the language of abstraction.

Her work seeks to restore a form of primitive perception in abstract painting—one that allows us to recognize phenomena unfolding before us without rationalizing them into structured information.

As a digital-native artist, Hejum Bä has expanded the framework of visual perception within the digital environment, and this visual experience has influenced her approach to and understanding of painting as a medium. Her work attempts to capture dynamic, fluid forms within a fixed canvas, reflecting a paradoxical effort to visualize painting’s fundamental dilemma through painting itself. 

The movement she seeks to convey through painting is not limited to the physical transformation of a subject but also encompasses the mental process of concretizing an image in one’s mind and the passage of time.

In her solo exhibition 《Circle to Oval》 at Project Space Sarubia in 2017, Hejum Bä presented works that captured everyday scenes through photographic compositions, based on bodily movement. Although the series of paintings depicting motion formed a continuous sequence, the physical and material elements installed by the artist in the exhibition space disrupted the sense of unified stability. 

By utilizing a variety of materials—ranging from murals, paper, and canvas to steel plates and plywood—and rejecting standardized formats, her works extended beyond the conventional boundaries of traditional painting displays, which emphasize contextual coherence and formal beauty. The coexistence of different material properties transformed the space into a tactile environment, evoking the textures of objects.

Since 2018, Hejum Bä’s paintings have shifted from the depiction of organic forms in her earlier works to a stronger emphasis on abstract expression through color fields. During this period, she continuously explored the structure and combinatory nature of elements that compose non-representational images.

In her solo exhibition 《Teeth on Tail》 (2018) at the OCI Museum of Art, Bä sought to give form and color to formless thoughts by drawing inspiration from commonplace colored paper. Instead of directly observing real sheets of colored paper, she repeatedly imagined the process of shaping three-dimensional structures from flat surfaces—mentally tearing, folding, and standing the paper upright.

The structural imagination transferred onto the canvas does not necessarily correspond to an actual paper structure, nor does it need to. What Bä aims to materialize through these elements is not a tangible form but the movement of immaterial and invisible thought. 

The flow of thought manifested on the canvas emerges through the combination of bold, contrasting color fields. Bä assumes that the tension or harmony between these structurally connected color planes can generate a unique sense of movement inherent to painting. The dynamic interplay of color fields and vibrating brushstrokes then flows into the viewer’s imagination, transforming into a new movement of thought.

Bä’s work differs from the traditional method of drawing, which involves observing and reproducing a subject through visual perception. She states that, when painting, she strives to free herself from fixed forms and embrace a sense of liberation. For Bä, the act of painting is not about meticulously observing and depicting a specific subject; rather, it is closer to allowing the painting to emerge through the process of thought.

In the two-person exhibition 《Form/less》 at Whistle in 2019, Bä focused on positioning herself as an "information illiterate" rather than identifying and observing specific subjects. She further refined her experiments in translating systems of seeing and structures of thought onto a flat surface.

In this exhibition, Bä reflected on the enigmatic elements of abstract painting comparing it to language. She associated the sounds that humans make to refer to the objects we see for the first time before learning a language with abstract reasoning.

In her exhibited works Innerside Terro (2019) and Saga of the Unwritten (2019), Bä’s act of reviewing her own work becomes evident. The Go term “bokgi” (review), which refers to retracing previous moves to reflect on their sequential flow and structure, is adopted in her practice as a method for visualizing thought.

Through this approach, she experiments with how unknown images on the canvas relate to one another, testing whether movement can emerge solely through color collisions and brushstrokes. In this way, she gradually completes her paintings.

The paintings Bä presented at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art’s 《Young Korean Artists 2021》 exhibition also convey a sense of movement through variations of free and intense colors and organic compositions. Works such as Toega (2020) and Akuma (2020) evoke concrete shapes at first glance, but their abstract color fields quickly divert them from our perception, drifting into abstraction.

The free combination of images stimulates the curiosity of the audience and allows them to experience the joy of primal visual perception. In an age where advanced media allows for high levels of representation, certain human perceptual abilities and cognitive curiosity have atrophied. However, in front of her paintings, these abilities are reawakened, allowing viewers to expand their imagination beyond the scene on the canvas.

Hejum Bä's 2021 exhibition 《PLOTLESS》 at the Kumho Museum of Art unraveled the concept of plot through abstract structures in which forms dissolve and reappear, creating a mystery readable flow. Her work, which reflects the concept of a plot as an organic arrangement of various elements, continuously expands by recalling the formal qualities of painting through diverse ways of creating relationships and free variations.

In this organic process of composition, Hejum Bä sometimes revisits and repeats her own imagery, connecting the past, present, and future of her work, and structuring it in this way. The dynamic composition of the forms, which intersect and create variations, encourages the audience to form their own structure and flow, enabling them to view the artwork freely and without prejudice.

In 2022, Hejum Bä participated in the "Asia Focus" section of Frieze Seoul, showcasing works that explored the sensory experiences of "scoring," a system for gaining points in games, and "unlocking," the sensation of unlocking mobile devices.

Hejum Bä saw a parallel between the pleasure derived from achieving balance and dynamic movement in painting, where different color fields touch and interact, and the system of "scoring" in games, where visual elements collide and are assigned points. At the same time, she connected the structure of unlocking a mobile device to the sensation of entering the world of abstraction.

Her abstract paintings, which reflect these sensations, align with the sensory experiences we encounter in the digital media environment we live in, and they demonstrate how traditional painting as a medium can be read and communicate within the context of today’s media.

Through abstract painting, Hejum Bä captures the flow and generation of thought. Drawing on her interest in the media environment and structures that influence contemporary perception, she has explored how traditional painting can break free from its fixed conventions and engage in new narrative structures and systems that allow communication and relationships between the artist, the artwork, and the audience.

Her paintings come across like a puzzle, adjusting the objective distance from familiar subjects and inviting us to engage with them in a way that makes any attempt to find and interpret a specific shape seem futile. At the same time, this approach liberates our thinking, allowing us to rediscover primal sensations.

"Brushstrokes or traces of the brush, even if they do not depict or refer to anything specific, can still allow us to read a structure or understand a system. If that is possible, isn't that a way to reach an area of communication? That, to me, is the power of implicit communication. (…)
 
The implicit is knowledge gained through practice, and even if you follow a manual, you won't reach the same conclusion. I believe painting is a domain of practice, and it is connected to implicit knowledge. This is why I explore the possibilities of communication within the implicit realm through abstraction based on structure and system." (Hejum Bä, ELLE Interview, 2022)

Hejum Bä received her Bachelor’s degree in Painting and Printmaking from Ewha Womans University in 2010, and graduated from Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design with a diploma in Drawing and Painting in 2015. A year later, in 2016, she participated in the Practice-based Research Program at the Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany.

Her major solo exhibitions include 《COMBO》 (Whistle, Seoul, 2021), 《PLOTLESS》 (Kumho Museum of Art, Seoul, 2021), 《Kyka Foretold…》 (SeMA Storage, Seoul, 2021), 《Teeth on Tail》 (OCI Museum of Art, Seoul, 2018), 《Circle to Oval》 (Project Space Sarubia, Seoul, 2017), and more. Recently, She has participated in group exhibitions at institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Gwacheon, 2021), DOOSAN Gallery (Seoul, 2019), HITE Collection (Seoul, 2018), Hakgojae Gallery (Seoul, 2018), and Platform-L Contemporary Art Center (Seoul, 2016).

Hejum Bä has also been an artist-in-residence at the MMCA Residency Goyang (2020) and Seoul Art Space Geumcheon (2019), and her works are part of the collection of the Seoul Metropolitan Government.

References

• 학고재 갤러리, 배헤윰 (Hakgojae Gallery, Hejum Bä)
• 인천문화통신 3.0, 인천아트플랫폼 입주 예술가 배헤윰, 2021.06.22 
• 프로젝트 스페이스 사루비아, Circle to Oval (Project Space Sarubia, Circle to Oval) 
• OCI 미술관, 꼬리를 삼키는 뱀 (OCI Museum of Art, Teeth on Tail) 
• W컨셉, 아트 이슈 06 – 배헤윰, 2022.08.26 
• 휘슬, Form/less (Whistle Form/less) 
• 국립현대미술관, 젊은 모색 2021 (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), Young Korean Artists 2021) 
• 엘르, 거대한 캔버스에 펼쳐낸 색면의 세계, 배헤윰 #프리즈서울 #포커스아시아, 2022.09.03