Taeim Ha

Ha Taeim's abstract paintings, featured by vibrant color bands flowing like musical melodies, present a canvas where vivid colors and curved lines (bands) intersect, repeat, and overlap. The process of using her body as an axis, drawing out threads of color from the tips of her fully extended arms, creating a single stroke with diluted paint, allowing it to dry, and then retracing the same trajectory countless times, is labor-intensive and a result of reflection on the space expressed by bands of color and curve. Her work is distinguished by the accumulation of colors on the canvas, where countless color bands intersect and overlap, yet the refined hues deliver a polished and sophisticated impression. Inspired by expressionist styles she came across during her time studying abroad, she began abstract work as a means of communication as a foreigner by filling the canvas with symbols and characters to shape communication itself into a visual form. After realizing that true communication is not rooted in knowledge, language, or text, she has developed her own sculptural language and created a unique and original artistic world. “The act of layering color bands is like a meditative practice that does not defy order or reason,” says the artist. She delivers messages of hope and healing to viewers through a series <Un Passage> where beautiful curves of color serve as a "channel" for communication, with each hue carrying its own unique meaning or story even without form. She graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure d'Art de Dijon and the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, later earning a doctoral degree from Hongik University's graduate school. Since her first solo exhibition in 1995, she has held numerous solo shows in Seoul, Paris, Beijing, Germany, and other locations both domestically and internationally while participating in over 200 group exhibitions. She was awarded the Monaco Principality Prize at the Monaco International Contemporary Painting Exhibition in 1999 and ore recently, she has showcased edition works through collaborations with companies such as Bentley Motors Korea and Divinus Wine. Her works are part of collections at various institutions and galleries, including the Seoul Museum of Art, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Art Bank, the Monaco Museum of Modern Art, the Amore Museum, and Samsung Electronics.