Inspired by traditional Korean ceramics, Chicago-based artist Dabin Ahn’s new paintings at 1969 Gallery combine art historical references with a feeling of wonder and whimsy. Painted like an apparition, the top section of this vessel hovers in lighter tones above the more solid-looking segment below. Perhaps once part of the decoration, the birds’ white wings continue the contour of the vase while they appear to cavort in mid-air. Materializing as if from memory or history, the vase may be broken, but its magical quality remains. (On view in Tribeca through April 20th).
Dabin Ahn, Phantom, 18h x 17w inches, oil on linen, 2024.
Merrily Kerr is an art critic and writer based in New York. For more than 20 years, Merrily has published in international art magazines including Time Out New York, Art on Paper, Flash Art, Art Asia Pacific, Art Review, and Tema Celeste in addition to writing catalogue essays and guest lecturing. Merrily teaches art appreciation at Marymount Manhattan College and has taught for Cooper Union Continuing Education.
For more than a decade Merrily has crafted personalized tours of cultural discovery in New York's galleries and museums for individuals and groups, including corporate tours, collectors, artists, advertising agencies, and student groups from Texas Woman's University, Parsons School of Design, Chicago's Moody Institute, Cooper Union Continuing Education, Hunter College Continuing Education and other institutions. Merrily's tours have been featured in The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, Sydney Morning Herald and Philadelphia Magazine.
Merrily is licensed by New York City's Department of Consumer Affairs as a tour guide and is a member of the International Association of Art Critics (AICA USA)
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