SALLY J. HAN: Foreplay

Sally J. Han's acrylic paintings on paper, mounted on panel, are confessions but also secrets. The answer to what they might reveal or conceal rests in a space between the surreal and the earthly. Gazing at the sky, whispering and gossiping, sleeping and bathing, fighting and waiting, resting and walking, smoking, cleaning. All are familiar rituals but what lies beyond the confines of these scenes? For Han, who was born in China but grew up in South Korea, her memories are transformed into culturally specific puncta painted throughout like tiles pieced together creating a mosaic that stands for a history (story): the traditional versus contemporary clothing worn by the painted figures, the colors, the landscapes, walls, objects, and interiors. 

Foreplay, the exhibition title, is more than its association to physical activities, like kissing and touching, it can also point to mental and verbal landscapes, like whispering, gazing and gossiping. The settings created by Han could all be said to be in a state of foreplay. Pulling hair, as in the painting Foreplay and A Sneak Peek, tension reigns between faceless figures, as they engage in an act that is both erotic and playful. Hair as relating to our private, involuntary fantasies, thoughts and longings, is being pulled out of its roots. For the artist, this symbolism creates a bridge to the Korean concept of 한(Han), as nebulous a notion as love or hate: profoundly personal yet endured around collectively, like a national beacon, a marker of suffering alleviated by a strong believe in resiliency. 

Jingmei "Sally" Han received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts and an MFA from the New York Academy of Art. Her work has been shown at YUI Gallery, Flowers Gallery, Wilkinson Gallery and more. The exhibition Foreplay at Fortnight Institute is the artist's first solo exhibition in NYC. Sally currently lives and works in NYC.