Hee Seung SUNG’s canvases are filled with recurring dots, light, and layered traces of color that may evoke stars or the cosmos, yet they are closer to impressions left by sensation than to representation. Her paintings do not depict a specific space; rather, they are the residue of time spent looking and lingering, impressions accumulated on the surface. Eternal Becoming is a process of forming a language that has not yet reached its end. It does not dwell on the moment when a form is finalized, but instead highlights the duration in which forms are continuously generated and set into motion. The ‘star’ emerges from this process as a locus where circle and triangle, completion and expansion, overlap within a single plane. It is less a shift in form than a trace of a changing way of perceiving the world. In the paintings, the star resists being reduced to a fixed symbol or narrative. While it may hold love, hope, and consolation, it ultimately becomes a question of the restoration of existence itself. The starlight encountered in the night sky amid the fractures of personal life becomes not a symbol, but a memory. In this moment, the star appears as a light that cannot be grasped, yet undeniably exists—something that cannot be possessed, yet nonetheless enters into relation; distant, yet continually exerting its influence. The artist gives abstract form to states that resist verbal articulation, a mode she describes as ‘hyper-abstraction’. This becomes more evident through the material conditions that constitute the pictorial surface. The paintings do not disclose a single image all at once. Dots, short brushstrokes, and subtle chromatic variations gradually build density through repetition and layering, spreading gently in multiple directions rather than converging toward a fixed center. The surface resists immediate legibility, revealing different strata according to the duration of one’s gaze. While each work begins with an intuitive gesture, a consistent formal order and rhythm are sustained throughout the process. Repeated patterns may appear guided by sensation alone, yet every dot and brushstroke is placed with consideration for the overall balance and breathing of the surface. Chance functions as a permitted variation within structure, allowing freedom and tension, organic flow, and stability to coexist within a single field. The process unfolds through repeated pauses and resumptions, as new layers are laid over the traces of what came before. Seen from a distance, the viewer does not stand before a single image but within a field of light. Structure, flow, and a cosmic rhythm are first apprehended, yet the more one attempts to grasp them precisely, the more they begin to blur. Like stars in the night sky, countless points remain vividly present within darkness, yet evade capture when the gaze seeks to hold the whole. As one moves closer, an entirely different landscape unfolds. Even the untouched areas of the surface begin to register as light. The accumulated traces generate an expansive density that exceeds sensory measure. To see the stars, one must momentarily set aside the light of one’s immediate surroundings. Just as the eyes adapt to darkness, the viewer, too, must lower their sensory threshold before the surface yields a portion of its light. Like starlight that has traveled across light-years to reach the eyes of today, the light within the painting is a trace long in preparation. Before this light—perhaps already extinguished—we pause briefly, then return to the time of everyday life. These paintings do not offer answers; they open a field in which questions may arise. What matters is not what is seen, but how long one remains. From afar or up close, somewhere within that distance, the work waits for the quiet moment when each viewer’s breathing subtly begins to change. Hee Seung SUNG (b. 1977) was born in Busan and currently lives and works in Seoul, Korea. She studied Painting at the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, where she also earned her MFA. In 2005, she completed an MA in Studio Art and Media Art at New York University, US, and in 2015 finished her doctoral coursework at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. In 2021, she received her PhD in Fine Arts from Kookmin University, Korea. SUNG has held solo exhibitions including Eternal Becoming (2026, Hakgojae, Seoul, Korea); Engraving the Stars (2025, Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwangju, Korea); From Performance to Stardust: Heeseung SUNG's Art Life (2023, Zaha Museum, Seoul, Korea); Universe_( )IV (2021, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Sejong Museum, Seoul, Korea); 《Universe_( )lll》(2021, Gyeonggi Arts Center, Suwon, Korea), and Universe_( ) (2021, Hakgojae Art Center, Seoul, Korea). Her major group exhibitions include A4 Action 2025: Revolution of Light (2025, National Assembly Members' Office Building, Seoul, Korea); Sicheon Yeomin (2024, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea); Artist of the Year (2022, Saatchi Art, London, UK); Life of an Artist (2021, G Gallery, Hiroshima, Japan); The World Seen Through Art (2019, Gangnam-gu Office, Seoul, Korea); The Rule of Art (2009, Korean Cultural Center in China, Beijing, China); View from Other Side (2008, Korean Cultural Center New York, New York, US); But I Was Only Acting (2006, Reina Sofía Museum, Madrid, Spain); and Invited / Uninvited (2003, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy). Her works are included in the collections of Reina Sofía Museum (Madrid, Spain), Gyeonggi Arts Center (Suwon, Korea), Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art (Gwangju, Korea), Zaha Museum (Seoul, Korea), Samsung Foundation of Culture (Seoul, Korea), Yonsei University (Seoul, Korea), and Deutsche Bank (London, UK)