Chul-Hyun Ahn

Busan, South Korea | 1971

Visual Echo Experiment - Stripes # 5, 2012. Plywood, mirrors, fluorescent acrylic, and lights. 31.5 x 31.5 x 5.25 in. 

Chul-Hyun Ahn was born in Busan, South Korea in 1971. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Chugye University for the Arts in Seoul. In 1997, he moved to the United States and, in 2002, received a Master of Fine Arts from the Mount Royal School at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. 

Ahn creates sculptures utilizing light, color, and illusion as physical representations of his investigation of infinite space. He achieves this through electrical light sources, including Light light-emitting diodes (LEDs), fluorescent and black lights set between mirrors, and one-way mirrors combined with housings made of plywood, cast concrete, or cast acrylic materials. The image of the work is created through the placement of lights between the two reflective surfaces, which makes the illusion of an infinitely reflecting light sculpture.

Ahn’s mirrored light sculptures arose from his background as a painter. His interest in hard-edge, geometric abstraction, and creating infinite depth within the surface of his canvases led him to place one of his paintings in a box of mirrors. When he discovered the magical properties of one-way mirrors, Ahn knew he had found a method of creating infinite depth. 

Ahn is an artist of international acclaim, with works in numerous public and private collections, including the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse in Miami; the Hearst Foundation in San Francisco; the Borusan Contemporary in Istanbul, Turkey; the Delaware Art Museum; Palm Springs Art Museum; Sammlung Schroth Collection in Soest, Germany; and the Jordan D. Schnitzer Family Foundation in Eugene, Oregon.