Sally J. Han. “Winter” (2021). Acrylic paint on paper mounted on wood panel. 24” x 30”. Courtesy of the artist and Fortnight Institute, NY.
Amidst the cacophonous soundscape of New York’s East Village, contemporary artist Sally J. Han seeks out simple fragments of beauty. Han’s current approach to her work explores what lies beneath the mundane nature of familiarity with a visceral edge. The artist currently finds herself in a close-knit group who are showcasing in _Hunters_ _in the Snow,_ a group exhibition hosted by 303 Gallery and curated by [Fortnight Institute](https://www.fortnight.institute).
Han, born in China and raised in South Korea until she moved to New York, studied the commercial applications of illustration in college. “Since I was a kid, I always wanted to draw,” she shares as we connect over Zoom. “I drew little cartoons, or anything that I wanted, and three or four years ago, I decided to get more serious about it, and start my final practice.” After earning her Masters, Han was swiftly taken under the wing of gallerists Fabiola Alondra and Jane Harmon of the Fortnight Institute, an esteemed contemporary art gallery in New York that aims to unite and platform emerging artists.
To date, Han has participated in select group shows at Flowers Gallery, Sotheby’s, YUI Gallery NYC, Site Brooklyn, and more. For _Hunters in the Snow,_ she draws upon a contemporary reinterpretation of the numbing seasonal melancholy we all face in the brunt of our very often harsh and long-enduring winters. The works serve as a point of departure from prototypically solemn depictions of winter, though, with an ambience of stillness and hope for times to come. “Each image has an optimistic feeling about it,” she affirms. “We all know that we are living in strange times, but I don’t think complaining is the only way to get through this. I think each piece has a personal touch to it.”
Sally J. Han. “Sunset” (2021). Acrylic paint on paper mounted on wood panel. 18” x 24”. Courtesy of the artist and Fortnight Institute, NY.
Perhaps most fascinating is that Han’s recent work is inundated with avian themes. In her _Hunters in the Snow_ piece,“Winter”, two birds—against an illuminating plume of snow and a quiet forest in surround—are captured devouring the remnants of McDonald’s French fries. Similarly, Han’s “Daydreaming” work features a woman basking in the heat of summer, perhaps preoccupied about life ahead or life behind, and surrounded by buzzing hummingbirds.
The artist’s fascination with birds wasn’t expected, Han notes. “To be honest,” she shares, “I wasn’t a bird person beforehand. Three years ago, a friend of mine had two parakeets, and she had to leave the United States, so she asked me to take care of her birds. I started to observe the birds, especially in how they solve problems in their own way. I was fascinated by how birds move three-dimensionally, and how their world and perspective must be so much more interesting than ours.” Indeed, Han’s repeated inclusion of songbirds poetically evokes an intimate connection between humankind and nature, occasionally suggesting that there is as much going on between the birds as there is between ourselves… if not more.
Han’s artistic simplicity reminds us there is something enchanting in appreciating the ordinary, a perspective that is rare in an art landscape consumed with creating “meaning” in work. “I don’t have a very esoteric meaning behind my work,” she reflects resolutely, “but I like to work in the mystery of normality. Each piece is like writing a diary, but in a pictorial way, so it is more autobiographical.” Han reminds us that whether it’s the grace of a swan, the pride of a peacock, or the ebullience of a parakeet, there is something to be cherished in the solitude and romanticism of nature. And if we don’t make a fuss about it? Well, we can all pass that long summer afternoon, or short winter evening, together in harmony.
