Si On (b.1979), currently based in Kraków, Poland, navigates her creative process guided by intuition and the subconscious. A vibrant palette, hairlike rendering of the line and textural saturation contribute to her work’s striking presence. Celebrated for her expressive paintings, with their hypnotic imagery rooted in Korean shamanism, her practice extends beyond this medium. Just as in her painted compositions, sculpture, and installation, Si On reveals oppositions and tensions. The artist layers traditional media with the unconventional and strange. Where styrofoam meets satin or metal pierces wood, contradicting and by that balancing forces are at play.
Si On’s work has long centred on having the unseen surface through the medium. This unfolding seeks to express the full complexity of the individual, with their memories, scars, dreams, and traumas. This is not to suggest an anthropocentric stance – far from it. While Si On portrays the relationships of the individual, sociocultural identity, or sexual politics, she evokes the emotional and spiritual tapestry of all presence, including the natural environment.
Originally from Dangjin, Korea, Si On draws on the spiritual practice of Korean shamanism, deeply rooted in the country’s tradition. She transposes the function of art with that of a Mudang (Korean Shaman), whose central role was bringing therapeutic relief to those with limited material means. “Assuming that the primal power of shamanism is in line with the underlying power of art, I made my artwork hoping that it has the same power”, she said back in 2022. The Mudang, serving as a medium between spirits and humans, was present from one’s birth to death. This accompaniment by the Mudang throughout a life’s journey has survived to this day, despite the modern-day opportunistic attempts to commodify the spiritual practice into mere fortune-telling.
In these attempts to render the whole visible, in her works, Si On juxtaposes innocence and moral decay, brutality and primitive justice or intermittent humour as a counterbalance to pain. The artist extends the scope from the portrait of the individual to that of the collective. The pyramidal, altar-like composition in Aching Soul (2016) evokes the idea of an intermediate zone. A black entity ascends, leaving behind a trace over a scene of terror where a group of human figures is engulfed in flames. Yet simultaneously wrapped in soft, opulent, feather-like forms, the contradictions in the compositions tear through the silence of the canvas. The inner fire opposes the surrounding deep blue waves, while cascading hair overtakes the pyramid’s base. In our last conversation in 2020, Si On explains that hair is “the most symbolic and critical part of our body” given its “(…) mystery to continuous growth – because hair grows even after death and never decays”. The whole of Aching Soul reveals a human figure in fusion with the hypnotic space it inhabits.
Between March and May 2025, Si On’s most recent work was on view in her second exhibition at the Edel Assanti in London. The show, Soft Armour, Heavy Bones, presented the confrontation between Si On’s defiant female protagonists and their environments. Among the selected pieces in Forest Knows (2021), the artist offered a vision of our intrinsic and inherent connection to the natural world, critiquing our ignorance towards this bond, and our self-distinction from our origins. Through her figurative imagery, she demonstrates this bonding and emergence, all accompanied by a persisting internal conflict against one’s roots. The suspended head of the female heroine utters a shriek of defiance, with her long brown hair threading through the trees and merging with the conifers, mimicking their trunk-like forms. The artist reinforces the notions of origin and continuity with the two skulls resting below the principal scene.
Dysmorphic figures reappear in the Master of Puppets (2025). Once more disembodied, a female heroine’s head appears in an enchained tiger’s mouth. A figure behind the animal attempts to tame it, as they move through a seemingly burning landscape pierced by bright yellow sun rays. The pinned costume medals expose the “master” false authority, while the girl’s weary expression and burning eyes embody her rebellious spirit. The framing of the composition, decapitating the “master”, grants the figure anonymity and contrasts with the altered physicality of the female heroine. Si On examines imposed power dynamics and illustrates the case of female latent resistance.
When is our resistance a silent one? How often do we build up the courage to scream against exterior injustice, while trapped in armour that can’t withstand our own weight? Si On continues to compel the viewers to confront what lies beneath the structures of modern-day society and the complexities within ourselves. Her pieces are powerful mirrors reflecting the visceral images of what is repressed.
Born in Dangjin, Korea (1979), Si On completed her BA from Mokwon University in South Korea. She moved to Japan in 2006 and completed her MA and Ph.D. at Kyoto City University of Arts. She moved to New York in 2013, where she participated in residency programs – ISCP (2014), Pioneer Works, and Residency Unlimited (2015). The artists settled in Kraków, Poland, in 2017. In 2019, she officially changed her name to Si On (formerly known as Hyon Gyon).
A winner of several awards and fellowships, such as the Asao Kato International Scholarship (2006–2008), the Kyoto Cultural Award (2014), and the Tokyo Wonder Wall Competition Prize (2014). She has participated in multiple group exhibitions in prominent institutions such as the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2010); Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2012); , Museum of Contemporary Art Warsaw (2018); Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello, Venice (2022), and MART Rovereto (2024).
More recently her solo shows included: Have a Nice Doomsday, Mazowieckie Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, Radom (2025); there is neither the beginning nor an end, GGM2, Gdańsk (2024); Beasts and Blossoms, T293 Gallery, Rome (2024); A Peace Brimming with Malice Edel Assanti, London (2023); Si On’s work is held in prominent permanent collections internationally includingBrooklyn Museum, NY, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, USA; Kyoto City University of Arts; Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art; Kyoto Bank; Mori Art Museum, Tokyo; and the Takahashi Collection in Japan.
