The Work

Crumpled forms initially appear mundane as ordinary discarded cloth bundles. Carved in Portuguese pink marble, the work gradually reveals itself as abandoned flesh, puckered folds disquietingly evoking skin and viscera. Though abstract and serene, the sculpture echoes the tradition of the body under duress, recalling Michelangelo's disembodied self-portrait in The Last Judgement (1541) and Marco d'Agrate's St. Bartholomew Flayed (1562) as kindred distress responses to horror and uncertainty. The series considers disembodied abandonment, not only shedding clothing and skin, but relinquishing morals, ethics, and humanity. Beautiful in fleshy materiality, the work meditates on corporeal vulnerability. Each Tenderness Series work is an edition of 3 in unique stones, original carving hand-finished in the Pietrasanta studio.

Artist Position

ESTABLISHED. Exploits cultural assumptions about European classical sculpture to examine contemporary anxieties. Works held in the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Art Gallery of South Australia, Australian War Memorial, Artbank, and the Danish Royal Art Collection, Copenhagen. Recent MCA acquisition 2025. 2024 dedicated major public commission "For Every Drop Shed in Anguish" Australian War Memorial, 18 marble droplets representing blood, sweat, tears. First Australian artist to win the Sovereign Asian Art Award (2020), Mordant Fellowship, American Academy in Rome (2019), and the Contemporary Talents Prize, Fondation François Schneider, France (2017).

Market Intelligence

Limited secondary market, auction record USD100,227 Deutscher & Hackett Sydney 2016. Major institutional momentum through the War Memorial commission and the MCA acquisition signals an elevated profile. Tenderness Series was introduced at ART SG 2025, marking a shift from politically charged asylum seeker/military memorial work toward an introspective examination of human vulnerability.

Collection Rationale

Strategic acquisition from Australia's foremost contemporary marble sculptor at the moment of thematic evolution. Demonstrates virtuosic mastery, rendering marble as flesh, somatic paradox invoking Renaissance flayed-body tradition through contemporary abstraction. Complements collections focused on contemporary sculpture, engaging classical traditions, or works exploring body/material transformation. Natural adjacency to collectors holding Ron Mueck, Patricia Piccinini, Sam Jinks. Carved in Pietrasanta, each work is unique within an edition of three executed in different marble varieties. Portuguese pink marble's fleshy colouration enhances visceral impact.

The Work

Lush garden unfolds where foliage, vessels, and architectural fragments press gently against a saturated blue field. Botanical forms gather and spill outward, suspended between cultivated abundance and quiet introspection. Layered colour and finely held detail, leaves, branches, tendrils articulated with clarity yet softened by atmosphere. Copper ground lends warmth and luminosity, allowing light to move subtly across the composition. Abundance manifests not as spectacle but stillness. Plants frame and partially veil the threshold space where interior and exterior meet, and the act of looking becomes immersive. Each element feels carefully placed yet alive, forming a dense, contemplative ecology rewarding slow attention.

Artist Position

EMERGING ESTABLISHED. Born Sydney 1994, MFA Painting National Art School 2017. Work held Art Gallery of New South Wales. Known for the transformation of pigments on copper surfaces, where paintings visibly age through oxidation as copper reacts to applied ground pigments. Recent solo "Hysteria" Brett Whiteley Studio 2023; first solo artist to exhibit there aside from Whiteley. Featured in The National 4: Australian Art Now (touring major institutions). Seven-time Archibald Prize finalist (2016, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025), finalist BP Portrait Award, London National Portrait Gallery, Royal Scottish Academy Annual Exhibition, Edinburgh, Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition, London. Winner Brett Whiteley Travelling Art Scholarship (2018), Kilgour Prize (2018), Mosman Art Prize (2018).

Market Intelligence

Exclusively primary market through N.Smith Gallery Sydney. AGNSW acquired "The Marriage of Nicol and Ford" (2024 Archibald finalist), 2024, marking the first institutional purchase. Recent work shifts from introspective self-portraiture to collaborative reimaginings of canonical art-historical paintings depicting women, working with leading Australian creatives. Cornucopia represents further evolution into botanical still-life territory while maintaining signature copper substrate and alchemical approach to materials.

Collection Rationale

Strategic acquisition of a rapidly ascending painter at a critical career transition. Walsh demonstrates rare technical mastery, transforming copper through oxidation into luminous support, positioning herself within the lineage of alchemical painting traditions. Complements collections focused on contemporary Australian painting, on women artists interrogating art-historical traditions, or on works exploring material transformation. Natural adjacency to collectors holding Cressida Campbell and Euan Macleod. Timing favours acquisition before broader international exposure elevates pricing beyond the post-emerging artist range.

The Work

Panoramic canvas bursts with dreamlike pink, red, and yellow hues, capturing azaleas in bloom across the mountainous region of youth, conjured rather than physically experienced. Yoon dispenses with orienting horizons, prioritising simultaneity through large, open fields of colour where intuition leads in unplanned, spontaneous ways. Thick layers applied vigorously with palette knife, then corrected, wiped away, left to settle before reworking, the physical process is traceable as sedimentary layers. Work references Azalea Mountain in South Korea, radiating bright pink during spring bloom, transporting viewers to the essence of springtime in Yoon's spirit and heart, while Kumgangsan Mountain commemorates the arbitrary 1945 Korea division as a symbol of unresolved geopolitical trauma.

Artist Position

ESTABLISHED MID-CAREER. Born in Onyang, South Korea, 1965, studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Fritz Schwegler (1997-2001), lives in Düsseldorf. Work held in Museum Kunstpalast Düsseldorf, Sprengel Museum Hannover, Museum Ostwall Dortmund, Kestnergesellschaft Hannover, Zabludowicz Collection London. Current solo Kumgangsan at Mumok Vienna (ongoing), recent solos Kestner Gesellschaft Hannover (2021), Nordiska Akvarellmuseet Sweden (2020), Art Sonje Center Seoul (2018), Museum Kurhaus Kleve (2017). 2025 Transfuge Art Prize Best International Artist. First US solo Marian Goodman Los Angeles (2024).

Market Intelligence

Exclusively primary market through Marian Goodman (joined 2024) and Galerie nächst St. Stephan Vienna. Marian Goodman's representation represents significant market development, positioning within a blue-chip program. Mumok solo and Transfuge Prize signal elevated institutional momentum. Pricing reflects established European institutional validation with emerging US market positioning through first Marian Goodman presentations.

Collection Rationale

Strategic acquisition from a Korean-German painter fusing East Asian landscape traditions with Western modernist abstraction at the moment of US market entry. "Landscapes of the soul" demonstrates distinctive synthesis—Korean sansuhwa (mountain-water paintings) meets colour field painting. Complements collections focused on contemporary landscape abstraction, Korean diaspora artists, or painters who bridge Eastern and Western traditions. Natural adjacency to collectors holding Joan Mitchell, Helen Frankenthaler, and Park Seo-Bo. Mumok institutional platform and Transfuge Prize validate sustained practice and broader international visibility. Timing favours acquisition during New York debut before US institutional momentum develops. Works hover between figuration and abstraction, with political dimensions that reference divided Korea, offering both aesthetic sophistication and geopolitical resonance.

The Work

Symbolic imagery and psychedelic colour depict the mythological relationship between humankind and nature. An oddly reflective desert unfolds through mirrored elements evoking uncanny symmetry, doubled mountain ranges, cloned river paths, and celestial bodies arranged in Western Zodiac constellation patterns. A fantastical scene exudes a specific season, time of day, and temperature. Strategic proportions and sacred geometries structure composition referencing sketches based loosely on places visited between the American northeast and southwest. Stars arranged as letters or words that reflect interest in linguistics, the evolution of communication, and the significance of signs and symbols in humankind's endless desire to make meaning. Delicate wavering between serenity and sorrow, isolation and unity emerges, two opposing forces meeting within a cycle.

Artist Position

POST-EMERGING. Born in New Jersey in 1988, BFA Painting & Drawing, SUNY Purchase, 2011. Solo exhibitions Gaa Gallery NYC (2024), Anat Ebgi Los Angeles "Seven Suns" (2023), Taymour Grahne London "Cycles" (2023). Recent groups: "Enchanted Lands", Johansson Projects, Oakland (2024), Richard Heller, Los Angeles (2024), Lamb Gallery, London (2024), Louisa Art Centre, Taipei (2023). Featured Dallas Art Fair, Felix Art Fair with Anat Ebgi (2023). Recipient Queens Council on the Arts New Works Grant (2018). In 2023, commissioned Mailchimp for a 9×21' permanent mural at the Atlanta headquarters alongside 39 contemporary painters. Co-directed Transmitter and Associated Gallery Brooklyn 2013-2020. Founded artist consulting agency Studio Associate (2019), served as Director of Career Services at CalArts from 2022-2024. Lives Los Angeles.

Market Intelligence

Exclusively primary through Taymour Grahne (UK representation) and selective group presentations Los Angeles/New York. Growing institutional interest is evidenced by Mailchimp commission and increasing group exhibition placements. Artsy featured "5 Artists on Our Radar" April 2023, predicting collector wishlist momentum. Recent Los Angeles gallery circuit visibility through Anat Ebgi, Richard Heller, Good Mother positions work within surrealist landscape painting resurgence alongside Amy Lincoln, Anna Ortiz.

Collection Rationale

Strategic acquisition from a painter operating at the intersection of Hudson River School romanticism, Japanese folk art, and spiritualist iconography reimagined through a psychedelic lens. Work addresses the tenuous relationship between humankind and nature through cycles, lunar, solar, seasonal, menstrual, reproductive, and atmospheric. Complements collections focused on contemporary landscape painting, women artists investigating psyche and desire, or West Coast painters merging mysticism with natural forms. Natural adjacency to collectors holding Jonas Wood, Hilary Pecis, Christina Quarles. Positioning benefits from Los Angeles gallery momentum and from expanding UK representation. Timing favours acquisition during mid-career emergence before broader institutional validation elevates pricing.