Taewon Ahn (b. 1993), also known by the name ppuri, has been transforming rapidly circulating digital images—such as internet memes—into physical forms through painting and sculpture. Ahn regards the internet not merely as a virtual space, but as a new kind of material network shaped through the interactions between humans, environments, and technology. Within this framework, the artist sensually explores and expresses the complex relationships that emerge in digital space.

Born in the early 1990s during the transition from analog to digital, Taewon Ahn naturally internalized a digital sensibility as he grew up. His interest in the world of the internet was also shaped by childhood experiences with computers, influenced by his father who worked as a programmer. 

Ahn’s early works took the form of paintings in which he transposed internet memes circulating online—onto custom-made canvases. Produced and consumed by anonymous masses, memes are rapidly replicated, altered, and disseminated, only to quickly reach the end of their lifespans.

Taewon Ahn focused on the seemingly trivial and clumsy yet visually captivating qualities of memes. Rather than delving into their narrative or symbolic content, he honed in on their surface appeal—visual images that, while easily overlooked, have the power to grab attention. Like reproducing a single meme, Ahn rapidly transfers these fleeting and ever-changing digital images into the physical realm. 

To do this, he opts for an airbrush over a traditional paintbrush. The airbrush allows for faster execution and produces effects that resemble images edited in digital programs—qualities that align closely with the nature of his subject matter.

In addition, Ahn creates and utilizes his own custom-shaped canvases, granting new material form to internet images that often feel light and thus even more immaterial. For instance, in far away (2021) and guardian (2021), he designed canvases that emphasize the distorted contours of popular cat memes. These works resemble images that have been digitally “cut out” using editing software, thereby amplifying the material sensation evoked by the visual forms of digital imagery.

After previously translating all sorts of internet memes onto canvas, the artist began painting real-life cats following the adoption of a stray kitten named Hiro. As Ahn spent more time living with his feline companion and less time staring at his smartphone, his attention naturally shifted from digital cats to the real cat before him.

Against this backdrop, Ahn began his ongoing series ‘Hiro is everywhere’ (2021–), which reimagines his cat Hiro through the lens of endlessly replicating and proliferating internet memes. In this series, Hiro becomes a subject of both painting and sculpture, embodying the viral quality of digital imagery. 

‘Hiro is everywhere’ reflects the artist’s personal desire for Hiro to become a “meme star” of the internet world. By placing Hiro in various scenarios and infusing the works with emotion and humor, Ahn playfully elevates his feline companion into a pop-cultural icon.

In this series, Ahn repeatedly transforms and distorts photographs of Hiro—taken by the artist himself—replicating them across various surfaces in a manner reminiscent of internet memes. Without a fixed form, Hiro’s image is continually warped and reproduced, multiplying within physical space like a meme in the digital realm. 

This process of applying distorted images of Hiro onto irregular sculptural surfaces closely resembles texture mapping in computer graphics, where two-dimensional images are wrapped onto three-dimensional models.

In this body of work, Hiro’s image is often blended with distorted forms of cat memes found online, or freely transformed into figures that resemble insects, other animals, or even architectural structures. Images from the real world are intermingled with strange, unrelated visuals sourced from the internet, resulting in compositions that hover between dissonance and harmony. 

In this way, while Ahn’s early works discovered materiality in images drifting through the virtual space of the internet and brought them into the context of the real world, his works about Hiro blur the boundary between reality and virtuality by endowing a real-life being with the hybridity and mutability of floating online images.

Furthermore, in his recent works showcased in the solo exhibition 《PPURI》 at P21 in 2024, a stronger sculptural gesture is evident. While his previous three-dimensional works were strongly characterized as "images" transferred onto the "surface" despite taking the form of sculptural objects, the works in this exhibition symbolically reveal their identity as sculptures by being placed on pedestals. 

Ahn personally crafted the pedestals for each of his sculptures and placed "lumps with sculptural masses" on them. Independent curator Mohee interpreted his pedestals by stating, "The image-sculptures, placed in an incomplete state, which cannot stand independently, support the 'situation' of gradually becoming sculptures."

In addition, the surface of the exhibited sculptures is enhanced with thin, intricate sculptural gestures. By incorporating the labor-intensive method of gradually peeling away the "skin" of the sculptures, Taewon Ahn began to reveal the inner texture of the images. This process imbues the digital images, which would seem untouchable beyond the screen, with tactile materiality.

Taewon Ahn's work goes beyond simply reproducing digital images or expressing digital sensibilities; it tactilely explores hybrid identities formed within the internet environment and the relationship with companionable connections. In other words, the artist presents his works as products of a material network where the internet, humans, and the environment interact, moving beyond the binary distinction between virtual and real. 

Furthermore, his work provides an opportunity to reflect on how the internet is influencing our lives today and to contemplate the materiality of the internet to which we are all rooted.

 “The distance that can be touched is approaching infinity, but for some reason, I don’t feel the desire to go. The things that are physically close actually feel farther away. I want to hold onto them.”   (Taewon Ahn, Artist's Note)

Taewon Ahn majored in Western Painting at Chung-Ang University. His solo exhibitions include 《deep sea fish》 (Diesel Art Gallery, Tokyo, 2025), 《PPURI》 (P21, Seoul, 2024), 《Liminal room》 (Plan x gallery, Milan, 2023), 《Focal point》 (Cylinder, Seoul, 2022), and 《Merge down》 (Gallery Stand, New York, 2022).
 
Additionally, the artist has participated in numerous group exhibitions, such as 《Epidermis bares while shielding》 (Space Willing N Dealing, Seoul, 2024), 《CONDO London 2024》 (Project Native Informant, London, 2024), 《Postmodern Children》 (Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, Busan, 2022), 《Art Rebuild》 (Boan 1942, Seoul, 2022), and 《Spirit shackle》 (SeMA Storage, Seoul, 2021). 

Furthermore, Taewon Ahn has expanded his presence in the global art scene, showcasing his work at major art fairs like Art Basel Miami and Frieze Seoul in 2024.

References

• P21, 안태원 (P21, Taewon Ahn) 
• 비애티튜드, 열받는데 묘하게 생각나
• P21, 모희 - 안태원의 작업에 대한 소고: 이미지의 뿌리를 찾아서
• 럭셔리 매거진, 디지털 시대, 이미지의 무한 변주, 3월호
• 얼터사이드, PICREN (AlerSide, PICREN)
• P21, PPURI
• 스페이스 윌링앤딜링, 안태원 작가 노트 (Space Willing N Dealing, Taewon Ahn Artist’s Note)