Sven Schelwach’s solo exhibition to end Sunday

International artist Sven Schelwach’s solo exhibition “The Parallel Universes” that has been running since Dec. 3 in Yongsan-gu will wrap up on Dec. 25

“Fascinated by topics such as perception, cognition, reality, time, and space, this series observes the way of experiencing our environment. It also questions how we perceive the world in general, and how we make things become our ‘reality,’” states a press release.

“The works that are printed on aluminum show fragments, and little parts of larger pictures. What the prints are of ― plants, animals, fruits, liquids, etc. ― is not the central focus of these pieces. These works are there more so to make the viewer contemplate how small pieces of information are often not enough to understand the whole. Many times, people form an opinion very early on by only seeing bits and pieces of information, without comprehending the subject matter in its entirety. This leads to falsely categorizing, putting things or people in boxes, and creating a thinking pattern, which might not do justice at all, to the subject at hand.”

Some of Schelwach’s works appear blurry. This can be seen as a metaphor for how things can become unclear, the closer one looks. Sometimes, it is necessary to step back, take some more time to observe and think, to see and understand the bigger picture.

“Today’s society has become infinitely complex and extremely fast-paced. We all function as specialized individuals, almost like little parts of a big machine. Little parts that often don’t see or understand what the whole is working on, or walking towards,” states the artist.

Through increasing awareness of how limited our perception may be, this exhibition examines another facet of one of the biggest questions to date: “Who are we?”

The exhibition is at Gallery Dongne, 261-5 Seogye-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, and is open from midday – 8 p.m.