Hyojun Hyun and Fiona Struengmann

Hyojun Hyun is a South Korean visual artist based in Berlin. His practice often integrates found objects and is inspired by human traces from around the city walls.

Drawing inspiration from the colors of mosques and the shape of palm trees specific to certain areas in Beirut, Hyojun creates paper cutouts reminiscent of Henri Matisse's later work.

Using leftover paper, which is otherwise discarded, his technique gives them a second life.

I don't seek, I find - Pablo Picasso

Composition # 19

Hyojun's latest body of work draws inspiration from the abundance of cheap posters promoting concerts, exhibitions and politicians around the city.

This jarring contrast between layers and human traces gives his paintings a dichotomy of soft surrealness overlapping a harsh reality

Inspired by this playful annecdote, Hyun had stumbled across discarded pieces of wrapped plexi-glass where he reiterated the act of tearing down posters with these found objects.

An interesting outcome emerges and results in an abstract ready-made composition

Fiona Struengmann is a visual artist fascinated by nature’s discrete yet abundant takeover of the city.

She creates an intimate understanding of what she sees in our relationship with the natural world by creating an interplay of clearly visible lines, discrete needlework and paper embossing.

Under dull light, the paper appears to be blank, but once the direct light hits the paper the needlework creates a shadow, resulting from
her technique of perforating paper sideways.

She is inspired by the wild urban vegetation- where plants emerge from ruins and cracks in the streets, inactive construction sites and abandoned houses.

The traditional method of tile making and the preservation of Lebanon’s archaeological artifacts, all contributed to inspire her embossed pieces.