I want to buy unseen eyes
Hejum Bä
“Societies have always been shaped more by the nature of the media by which they communicate than by the content of the communication.”
– Marshall McLuhan
In the infamous movie A Clockwork Orange by Stanley Kubrick, one of the most iconic scenes depicts Alex, the protagonist afflicted by an insatiable thirst for “ultra-violence”, undergoing the “Ludovico technique,” a form of aversion therapy in which his eyes are forcibly pried open as he is obligated to watch a series of graphically violent, and disturbing footage.
Hejum Bä ’s first solo exhibition at MASSIMODECARLO Hong Kong bears a provocative title – a nod to the viral Korean internet meme – I want to buy unseen eyes – referencing the constant stream and influx of content we consume in the digital age, whether we intend it or not. These thoughts, feelings, and emotions are laid down on canvas as a response to the artist’s perceptiveness.
Hejum’s paintings are not mere random arrangements of lines and colour fields. Rather, they represent a meticulous dissection and abstraction of the peculiarities of our contemporary experiences. Living in Seoul, and working in Gangnam district, also known as the financial heart of the city, Hejum Bä looks and listens at what surrounds her. To the artist, the seeming schizophrenia of modern life is neither foreign nor bizzare, but rather a familiar muse.
In A Bitcoiner’s Hope (2024), complementary fields of colour are circumscribed by specific linework patterns that mimic chart visualisations used in banking apps. In this work, Bä explores the impact of Bitcoin in South Korea, where the trend saw countless people investing their savings in cryptocurrencies.
The use of line-work as a key aesthetic theme in Bä ’s oeuvre derives from the observation of unlocking patterns in smartphones. In Heavy Swipe to Unlock (2024), two thick green lines mimic the path our fingers instinctively follow through habits ingrained by modern technology. The term “heavy” not only suggests the physicality of the gesture, but also evokes a pivotal feeling that Bä impute to her paintings: as our digital lives prioritize fleetingness, we need weight and heaviness as a grounding counterpart.
The idea of rendering her work as a painterly anchor against the hustle of our life opens another key concept in Hejum Bä ’s research, “sheer optimism.” Understanding optimism in contrast to positivity, the artist aims to use the former as a mental foundation to build, where the latter is often enforced as a needed attitude in modern capitalism.
In the painting An Affirmation (2024), Bä reflects on the recent psychological trend in using words of positive affirmation to motivate ourselves to remain productive and healthy despite the hardships we face daily. Sheer Optimism (2024) and An Uplifting Painting (2024) both embody this exploration of anchoring and presenting a strong and deep feeling of hopefulness. The reverse drops of the second artwork create an uplifting pattern, as the artist presents the painting upside-down.
At large, Hejum Bä ’s exhibition at MASSIMODECARLO Hong Kong is a two-fold exploration of modern life: it offers an objective, non-judgemental commentary on our current condition. From her studio in Gangnam, Bä observes and investigates, often emphasizing what she sees; as in the end, “we are all trying to get by,” one overstimulation after the other.
It is in virtue of this understanding, that a second layer of reading on Bä ’s work emerges: her paintings become a welcoming escapism, where abstraction serves as a tool for empathy, lines connect us to our present, and colour patterns move us beyond it. Only the titles, with their witty captions, reveal the inherent duality present in her work.
– Valentina Buzzi, writer and curator
The Artist
Hejum Bä was born in Seoul in 1987. She currently lives and works in Seoul.
Hejum Bä’s understanding of contemporary communication – from both verbal and non-verbal language to the complex codes we navigate in everyday interactions – deeply influences her artistic practice. Her abstract, colorful works offer a layered depiction of the actions we perform when engaging with our phones, such as “swiping” and “tapping,” moving beyond pure emotion or intuition. In her paintings, Hejum Bä examines the complex relationships between visual elements, particularly the interaction of surface and background, color and line.
Hejum Bä holds a degree in Painting and Printmaking from Ewha Womans University in Seoul and continued her studies at the State Academy of Art and Design in Stuttgart. She is currently participating in a practice-based research program at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany.
Her recent solo exhibitions include MASSIMODECARLO Seoul Studio (South Korea, 2025), MASSIMODECARLO (Hong Kong, 2024), Frieze Seoul Focus Asia (2022), Kumho Museum of Art (2021), SeMA Storage (2021), and OCI Art Museum (2018). She has also showcased her work in group exhibitions like Young Korean Artists at the MMCA (2021), as well as at DOO-SAN Gallery, HITE Collection, Whistle Gallery, and Hakgojae Gallery.