Haeley Kyong creates art that feels both simple and profound, aiming to strike a chord with viewers on a deep emotional level. She believes art should cut through the noise, reaching past logic and tapping directly into feeling. Her minimalist style isn’t about stripping things away for the sake of simplicity. Instead, it’s about distilling ideas down to their essence.
Born and raised in South Korea, Kyong’s path as an artist has been shaped by both cultural roots and formal training. She studied at the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and Columbia University in New York City. This blend of traditional and contemporary influences has allowed her to build a style that feels timeless but never static.
Kyong doesn’t shy away from challenging what art can be. Her work often focuses on fundamental shapes and colors, using them as tools to create something that feels raw and authentic. She wants her art to resonate on a gut level, bypassing rational thought to reach something more primal. It’s an approach that feels both personal and universal, inviting viewers to find their own meanings within her work.
For Kyong, art is about connection. She strives to make pieces that feel alive, that have something to say even when words fall short. It’s not about impressing anyone or following trends. It’s about finding truth in simplicity.
One of Kyong’s collections stands out for its raw, heartfelt approach. The series is rooted in her childhood memories, capturing fragments of a time when life felt vivid and textured. She describes growing up near a bustling marketplace, living in shanty homes stacked along narrow alleys, and spending summers at a beach house her family ran as a bed and breakfast.
These memories are sharp and distinct, but Kyong doesn’t try to recreate them in exact detail. Instead, she paints them as they feel—layers of experience overlapping, sometimes chaotic, sometimes peaceful. The series emerged spontaneously, as she picked up a brush and began painting without overthinking the process. The result feels both playful and deeply personal.
The way she describes her childhood homes speaks to a sense of closeness and complexity. Houses stacked almost on top of one another, narrow alleys winding through crowded spaces—it’s a landscape filled with life and movement. But there’s also a feeling of intimacy, of spaces shared and boundaries blurred.
Kyong’s process for this series was intuitive. She painted what came to mind, letting the work develop organically. The result is a collection of pieces that feel immediate and genuine. It’s not about perfection or technical precision; it’s about capturing something that feels real.
Her use of color and shape in this collection is deliberate but not overly calculated. The paintings suggest memories rather than illustrating them outright. Viewers are invited to fill in the gaps, to bring their own experiences to the work. This openness is part of what makes Kyong’s art feel so engaging.
There’s a sense of joy in her process, a freedom that comes from creating without overthinking. But there’s also a deeper undercurrent, a sense that these paintings are more than just visual exercises. They’re about memory and identity, about how the past continues to shape the present.
Kyong’s minimalist approach serves her well here. By focusing on essential forms and colors, she creates space for emotion to come through. The work feels both grounded and expansive, rooted in personal experience but open to broader interpretation.
In a way, the series feels like an invitation. Kyong isn’t telling viewers what to think or feel. Instead, she’s offering them a chance to connect with their own memories and emotions, to see something of themselves in her work.
Haeley Kyong continues to push forward, refining her style and exploring new ideas. But at the core of her work remains the same simple truth: art should speak to something real, something that exists beyond words.
