HWI HAHM
Hwi Hahm (b.1993 Busan, South Korea) earned his MFA at Hunter College in 2024 and BFA at School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2016. He had a recent solo show at JJ Murphy Gallery in New York, a two person show at F2T Gallery in Milan and PM/AM in London and has participated in multiple group exhibitions including C L E A R I N G, New York, Chapter NY, New York, JO-HS Gallery, New York, Unosunove, Rome, IT. He has participated in residencies such as Palazzo Monti at Brescia, Italy, and Pilotenkueche Residency at Leipzig, Germany in 2017. He is currently living and working in Brooklyn, NY.
His paintings are built through layers that obscure as much as they reveal. Working over existing imagery, he creates visual barriers that resist easy interpretation, evoking absence, ambiguity, and the fragmentation of identity. Figuration is withheld, replaced by geometric forms, abstracted structures, and landscapes that suggest human presence without defining it. His work is the repercussion of the dissociation of identity (the disappearance of individuality), and it offers a balance between material properties and the illusionistic possibilities of painting. He avoids a direct representation of heritage and history, which results in the ambiguity of subject matter.
His work draws from German Expressionism, Cubism, and Metaphysical painting, yet subverts their existential pursuits. The compositions emerge from the question: can geometry be personal? The result is a balance between materiality and illusion, humor and melancholy—a surface where swaths of paint fail to become something specific, yet resonate with emotional and philosophical tension. Each canvas becomes a site where identity is not defined, but continuously withheld and renegotiated.
Emotions arising from the fragmentation of identity, deterioration, exhaustion, and demoralization, become conditions in which his subjects exist. His paintings continue to evolve as he engages with his own identity on the canvas.
His paintings are built through layers that obscure as much as they reveal. Working over existing imagery, he creates visual barriers that resist easy interpretation, evoking absence, ambiguity, and the fragmentation of identity. Figuration is withheld, replaced by geometric forms, abstracted structures, and landscapes that suggest human presence without defining it. His work is the repercussion of the dissociation of identity (the disappearance of individuality), and it offers a balance between material properties and the illusionistic possibilities of painting. He avoids a direct representation of heritage and history, which results in the ambiguity of subject matter.
His work draws from German Expressionism, Cubism, and Metaphysical painting, yet subverts their existential pursuits. The compositions emerge from the question: can geometry be personal? The result is a balance between materiality and illusion, humor and melancholy—a surface where swaths of paint fail to become something specific, yet resonate with emotional and philosophical tension. Each canvas becomes a site where identity is not defined, but continuously withheld and renegotiated.
Emotions arising from the fragmentation of identity, deterioration, exhaustion, and demoralization, become conditions in which his subjects exist. His paintings continue to evolve as he engages with his own identity on the canvas.
SELECTED WORKS
INSTALLATION VIEWS
EXHIBITIONS AND FAIRS
Art Fair Tokyo 2025
Happens to the heartCV
Education
Hunter College, New York, USA
- Master of Fine Arts
School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, USA
- Bachelor of Fine Arts
Lorenzo de Medici School, Florence, Italy
- Study Abroad Program
Solo Exhibitions:
2026 – JJ Murphy Gallery, “Desire for Clarification”, New York, USA
2024 – Square Gallery, “Smudgy and Lossy”, Seoul, South Korea
2021 - Lubov Gallery, “Bushman’s Poetry, Starman’s Prank”, New York, USA.
Two Person Exhibition:
2025 – F2T Gallery, Hwi Hahm & Mathilde Albouy “It is What It is Not”, Milan, IT
2025 – PM/AM, Hwi Hahm & Areum Yang “Thinking of That Room”, London, UK
Selected Group Exhibitions:
2026 – JO-HS Gallery, Nigredo – Albedo – Rubedo, Casa Siza, Mexico City
2025 – JO-HS Gallery, “Happens to the Heart”, New York, NY
2024 – 205 Hudson Gallery, “April” MFA Thesis Show, New York, NY
2024 – PM/AM, Group Exhibition #58, London, UK
2024 – C L E A R I N G, “Dictionary of Accepted Ideas”, New York, USA
2023 – 1/9unosunove, “One wall a web through which the moment walks”, Rome, Italy
2023 – Hunter College MFA Gallery, “Unexpect”, New York, USA
2023 – Airlock, “Aging”, Chicago, Illinois, USA
2023 – David Zwirner Platform Initiative and Gathery, New York, USA
2023 – Kiosk Gallery, “Tribeca Grill”, Glasgow, Scotland
2022 – Chapter NY, “Elective Affinities”, New York, NY. USA.
2022 – David Zwirner Platform Initiative “Month of November” Online Exhibition
2022 - Hunter College MFA, “What’s the Matter?”, New York, USA.
2020 – Ground Floor Gallery, “Non-placeholder”, Brooklyn, NY. USA.
2019 - SVA Gallery, “Selected Solo Representation”, Brooklyn, NY. USA.
2017 – Pilotenkueche Residency, “What Did You Expect?”, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 – Kontor 80, “If I Was A Bit Careless”, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 – Salon Similde, “Salon Similde Therapeutics”, Leipzig, Germany.
2017 – Kenektid Gallery, “At That Time of The Day, One Can’t See The Difference Between A Dog and A Wolf”, New York, NY. USA.
2016 – Nicolet College Art Gallery, “29th Group Exhibition”, Illinois, USA.
2016 – Sullivan Gallery, “BFA Show”, Chicago, IL. USA
2015 – Palazzo Panciatichi, “Finalists Group Exhibition”, Florence, Italy.
2015 – Lorenzo de Medici School, “Group Exhibition”, Florence, Italy.
Residencies:
2025 – PM/AM Residency, London, United Kingdom
2018 – Palazzo Monti Artist Residency, Brescia, Italy.
2017 – Pilotenkueche Artist Residency, Leipzig, Germany.