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Survival instinct is the common thread running through the performances, sculptures, and two-dimensional works of Ahn Sung Hwan (1989). To him the struggle for survival is a universal principle that drives everything and everyone in this world.
With his multi-media collage ASIAN MACHO MAN! (2024), Sung Hwan evokes various associations with adolescence and survival. A boy in a taekwondo suit is intently staring into the camera. His hands are grasping the red belt around his waist. Next to this photograph a fluorescent green toy arrow pierces through a red cap and a watermelon. The boy in the photograph is Sung Hwan as a teenager. ‘I see someone who wants people to think that they are stronger than they actually are,’ the artist says. He is not only hinting at the overconfidence of a teenage boy, but also at a survival tactic: it is far too dangerous to be considered weak in the schoolyard. Sung Hwan also sees this behaviour in adults, and believes society as a whole is currently going through a collective adolescence. ‘In times of social and political instability, we all want to appear strong,’ he says, ‘and this leads to immature behaviour.’
In his collage, Sung Hwan plays with the duality between adulthood and immaturity, something he recognizes both in himself and society. As a child he would often watch wrestling matches on television during which the wrestlers demonstrated their destructive power by smashing watermelons. The artist refers to this with the toy arrow piercing through the watermelon, yet also releasing juice and a sweet smell. Violence and innocence, toughness and sweetness thus all coexist in his collage.
Text: Sarah van Binsbergen
Translated from Dutch by Marie Louise Schoondergang (The Art of Translation)