“If you could capture love, what shape would it take?”

Chanyoung Chin’s work began with a fleeting note she happened to discover in her late grandfather’s diary. In it, she found a story set on a crowded bus: her grandmother had suffered burns to her thigh from a bag of hotteok – traditional Korean pancakes sold fresh from a stall with a piping hot, liquid sugar filling. A man standing next to her was holding the bag tightly in his hand.

When her grandfather asked her anxiously why she hadn’t said anything, she replied simply: “He must have bought them for his children. If I’d asked him to move, he would certainly have been embarrassed.” So as not to embarrass a stranger for his loving gesture – bringing a warm sweet treat for his family – she silently endured the pain of the burn.

In a world where everyone is anxious not to suffer any personal loss, Chin places this “selfless consideration” at the heart of her work. She recognises in it the source of the love she herself has experienced – a warmth that is often lost in today’s society.

With swift acrylic strokes, the artist captures the hectic scene on the bus and layers oil paint over it to make the depth of this love physically tangible. Through this visual record, Chin poses the question to the viewer: “What form does the love take that someone has left in your heart?”

Die Vitrine 
der Akademie der Bildenden Künste Nürnberg 

in der Kunsthalle Nürnberg
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