Perrotin have announced its exclusive representation of the Estate of Young-Il Ahn (1934–2020). Ahn, a Korean-American painter celebrated for his exquisite abstractions based on the Pacific Ocean and the light of California, vaulted to critical acclaim late in his career following a solo show at LACMA in 2017–18. Perrotin, with locations across three continents, will represent the Estate globally.
Young-Il Ahn (1934–2020)
Young-Il Ahn was born in Gaeseong, a city now geographically located in North Korea. As a young boy, Ahn moved with his family to Horikiri, northeast of Tokyo; in 1943, the Ahn family left Japan and returned to Korea when his father, artist Seung-gak Ahn, accepted a position as an art instructor at Cheongju Teachers College.
A child prodigy, Ahn was awarded numerous prizes as a student, winning national art contests in 1949 and 1954. After graduating from the College of Fine Arts at Seoul National University and serving in the military, Ahn eventually made his way to the United States, settling in Los Angeles in 1966.
During the five-plus decades Ahn lived in Los Angeles, the light and atmosphere of California played a prominent role in his artwork. An avid fisherman, his painting practice was forever changed when, in 1983, a motorboat he was operating became engulfed by fog off the Santa Monica coast. Unable to get his bearings, Ahn drifted on the Pacific Ocean; as he later recalled, “I lost all sense of direction. I cut the engine and let the currents take me.” When the fog cleared, Ahn’s experience of sunlight rippling on the waves was an epiphany: “I became profoundly aware of the surface of the sea being reborn in each and every moment. What I witnessed was engraved deep in my heart. From that day on, the sea lived inside me and I became part of the sea.”
In 2017, Ahn had the distinction of being the first-ever Korean-American artist to be featured in a solo exhibition at LACMA, bringing overnight acclaim to his Water paintings. HIs work was also the subject of two solo shows at the Long Beach Museum of Art, A Memoir of Water: Works by Young-Il Ahn in 2014, and Young-Il Ahn: When Sky Meets Water, in 2017–18. Upon his death in 2020, ArtNews described the artist as a “trailblazing painter of radiant abstractions.”
In conjunction with the announcement, Perrotin presents Young-Il Ahn: Selected Works 1986–2019, a survey exhibition highlighting the lyrical range of Ahn’s work spanning a period of three decades. Curated by art historian and Perrotin Senior Director Jennifer King, the exhibition will be on view at Perrotin Los Angeles from April 11–May 24, 2025.
Emmanuel Perrotin states,
“As a result of the gallery’s expansion to Los Angeles in 2024, we now have the wonderful opportunity to work intimately with the Estate of Young-Il Ahn, and to steward the legacy of an important Korean-American artist who made Los Angeles his home for over 50 years.” King adds, “Over the years, Perrotin has established a strong program of Korean and Korean diaspora artists including Chung Chang-Sup, Lee Bae, Park Seo-Bo, GaHee Park, and Shim Moon-Seup. It’s extremely gratifying to be able to build upon this strength of the gallery from a curatorial perspective.”
