"We are all wearing masks with two holes in the eyes, all the

while harboring our voyeuristic tendencies with the desire to

watch others over exposing ourselves. – Kang Hyung Koo

Kang Hyung Koo's explores the illusory premise of reality that predicates upon a balanced enigmatic illusion between Surrealism and Hyperrealism. Kang's portraitures are a primitive portrayal of his subjective aesthetics driven by his psychological connections with his subjects that he endeavors to bring to life. It is imbued with a compositional focus that magnifies the facial features to reveal the diversity of emotions through magnificent details as epitomizes in ""Deng"". The monotone gray palette creates a mysterious and appealing magnetism that involves a mastery of the emblematic utilization of colours. This quality attributes a sense of existence and life to the late Deng Xiaoping. Interestingly, the turning profile of Deng Xiaoping is illuminated by a faint nostalgic hint of soft light that strikes only the left side of Deng's face, enticing the viewers to acknowledge and unravel Deng's facial expression. The delicate and fine layers of dark and grey hair coupled with the superficial creases on the Deng's face illuminates a worldly wise man weathered with age and wisdom with an air of unusual menace and mystery. This peculiar soft light also brings attention to Deng's dark eyes, a window to one's soul that is a source of immense energy and a key in observing into one's internal psyche. Simultaneously, this quality also adds a sentiment of suspense as Deng's focused dark eyes focus slightly away from the viewer's direct gaze. In this regard, Kang seems to parallel with Gu Kaizhi's theory on portraits that predicates an extension beyond depiction of physical beauty and ugliness on portrait, but rather necessitate to bring forth the importance of one's eyes as a key to the core expressionism in extracting their spiritual existence and introverted soul. It is through such attributes that Kang ventures beyond the realm of pure representation towards exquisite implications that instills his subjects with an aura that exceeds mere representation or imitation. "