Dakyo Oh

(b. 1991, Busan, South Korea). Working directly with earth, sand, charcoal and mineral pigments, Ho creates deeply tactile paintings through gradual processes of accumulation, erosion and excavation. Rather than representing nature, her works emerge from it, allowing the behaviour and materiality of the earth itself to determine the image. Presented in Strata, the elongated Pipe VII, created from black sand and animal glue on hemp cloth, forms a grounding presence within the exhibition. Its dense, velvety black surface possesses a remarkable material gravity, anchoring the surrounding works while extending Ho’s investigation into flow, erosion and connection. Inspired by water slowly carving channels through mountain stone, the work considers landscape as a continuous system rather than a fixed image. Like the waterways that shape the land, its vertical composition suggests movement beyond its own boundaries, existing as one fragment within a larger, ever-expanding whole. Through an uncompromising economy of form and material, Ho reduces painting to its elemental essence. Here, material itself carries the image, allowing the work to emerge from natural processes rather than describe them. The result is a practice of remarkable restraint, where the quiet physical presence of the work reveals the profound complexity of the natural world.