Seongmin Ahn

A Circle Is Not a Circle: 2001–2002 / 2025

“When viewed from the right place, even paradox has form.”

Seongmin Ahn, a Korean-born artist based in New York, presents an evolving body of work that explores the structures of perception, presence, and impermanence. In her series A Circle Is Not a Circle, Ahn engages with the dualities at the heart of both Eastern philosophy and quantum theory—fluidity and form, logic and paradox, stillness and movement.

Originally conceived in the early 2000s during a period marked by illness, the works reflect a deeply personal inquiry into reality’s shifting nature. Taking inspiration from Fritjof Capra’s The Tao of Physics, Ahn’s approach mirrors the subatomic world—where matter behaves as both particle and wave—by inviting viewers to engage from multiple perspectives. Her folded mulberry paper and sumi ink installations create spatial illusions that cohere into a perfect circle only when viewed from a precise vantage point. From all other angles, the image dissolves. In this way, the works resist fixed meaning and ask for movement, attention, and presence.

In 2025, Ahn returns to the series from a different place—physically steadier and more grounded in her practice. This renewed engagement is not a departure but a return, part of the circular logic that defines the work itself. Her process remains unchanged: standing above the canvas, she spins and pours ink in meditative gestures that balance intention with surrender. These new works do not seek to outdo the earlier ones, but to echo and expand them—an ongoing cycle of inquiry through material and space.

Several works in this exhibition take on a monumental scale, cascading across walls and bending onto the floor. These vast black forms—made from ink created through carbonized ash and animal glue—do not assert themselves, but absorb. They overwhelm not with loudness, but with quiet force, offering an atmosphere of stillness and depth. Like a field of darkness vibrating with potential, they suggest a void that is not empty but alive.

Inspired by the metaphysics of Zen and the paradoxes of modern physics, Ahn’s work explores how meaning shifts depending on where we stand. What may seem fragmented or uncertain can reveal a quiet coherence when approached from the right place—reminding us that perception is not fixed, but always in motion.

Ahn’s practice is rooted in Korean ink painting and informed by her academic background—she holds MFAs from both Seoul National University and the Maryland Institute College of Art. Her work has been shown at institutions including the Brooklyn Museum (2024), National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul), Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Hudson River Museum, and Hello Museum (Seoul), and is held in major collections such as MMCA Korea, Princeton University Art Museum, and Hudson River Museum. She has received awards from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, CUE Art Foundation, and AHL Foundation, among others. With a practice that bridges tradition, science, and philosophy, Ahn creates not objects, but environments—spaces of awareness where viewers become participants in a living, perceptual field.