This painting belongs to Young-Il Ahn's Water Series. For more than 30 years, Ahn has been attempting to capture the sea’s illusive, shimmering color and light in his paintings. The series grew out of a formative experience Ahn had in 1983, when he was lost at sea aboard a small fishing boat off the coast of Santa Monica. For a time, he was caught in fog so dense that he could not even see his own hands. When the fog cleared, sunlight illuminated the surface of the ocean surrounding Ahn for miles in every direction, leaving him with an indelible visual and emotional impression, which he has strived for decades to express in his Water paintings. In 2017, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) acquired part of this series and presented 10 of the works in the exhibition Unexpected Light: Works by Young Il Ahn, the first solo exhibition of a Korean American artist at LACMA.

Exhibitions

SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 2017 Young-Il Ahn, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, Illinois Young-Il Ahn, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Young-Il Ahn, Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea Unexpected Light: Works by Young-Il Ahn, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
2016 Before Water, Gallery Sesom, Changwon, Korea
2015 A Memoir of Water, Solo exhibition, Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California 2007 CJ Gallery, San Diego, California
2005 Klapper Gallery, West Hollywood, California
2004 Dosan Hall Gallery, Los Angeles, California
2000 Eamew Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1998 Sackville Gallery, London, England 1997 Dosan Hall Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1995 John and Joe Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1992 Gallery 365, Beverly Hills, California
1986 Hyundai Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1985 Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California Artist Loft Gallery, Beverly Hills, California
1983 Artist Loft Gallery, Beverly Hills, California
1982 Hyundai Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1971 Zachary Waller Gallery, Los Angeles, California
1969 Newster Gallery, Denver, Colorado
1968 Zachary Waller Gallery, Los Angeles, California Muckenthaler Center, Fullerton, California
1966 National Press Center, Seoul, Korea Daegu Gallery, Korea
1965 Bando Art Gallery, Seoul, South Korea
1964 Salon Pagodong, Seoul, South Korea
1963 Bando Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1962 USIS Gallery, Helsinki, Finland
1959 Hull House Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
1958 Dong-Ah Gallery, Seoul, South Korea

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017 LA Art Show, Los Angeles, California, curated by Baik Art
2016 LA Art Show, Los Angeles, California, curated by Yoon Jin Sup Art Busan International Art Fair, Busan, Korea, curated by Gallery SESOM Korea International Art Fair, Seoul, Korea, curated by Baik Art
2015 Palm Springs Art Fair, Palm Springs, California
2012 Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California
2011 Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, California
2010 CJ Gallery, San Diego, California Artist Ambassador of United States to Vienna, Austria
1988 Sole Invited Artist in the third International Contemporary Art Fair (Represented by Hyundai Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea) 1987 Sole Invited Artist in the third International Contemporary Art Fair (Represented by Hyundai Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea) Chosun News Daily Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1986 Korean National Museum of Art
1957 Invitational Exhibition, World House Gallery, New York City, New York