"HARD CORE SOFT draws on abstract painting principles, particularly the immersive expanses of Color Field painting, while infusing it with the emotional depth and atmospheric intensitycharacteristic of Gothic Romanticism. This wall sculpture-installation emphasizes dimensionalityand the interplay of negative and positive spaces, reminiscent of the vast, meditative surfaces of Color Field works. However, unlike the cool detachment often associated with that movement, HARD CORE SOFT bridges this with the darker emotional resonance of Gothic Romanticism,where the sublime and melancholic converge.

By blending the spatial vastness of Color Field painting with the emotional gravitas of Gothic Romanticism, the work balances fragility and detachment with a haunting sense of beauty andmystery. The organic shapes and muted tones evoke the soft, undulating surfaces responding toinvisible forces, exploring boundaries between presence and absence. This synthesis invitesviewers to reflect on the tension between softness and solidity, fullness and emptiness, impermanence, and flux—central themes in my practice."–Sookoon Ang