'Almost Home' brings you almost familiar images of an almost everyday existence. However, Hyun makes the familiar unfamiliar. He cuts out his images and re-assembles them in canvas collages. Catch this soloshow of an upcoming talent who has exhibited at Streetspace Banger (Recklinghausen, 2024), who has recently won the 'Nationale prijs voor schilderkunst Louise Dehem' (September 2025) and who will create work in public space for the The Crystal Ship street art festival in Ostend this summer 2026.

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Hyun Dekempe

Almost Home

Hyun Dekempe (born 1981) is of South Korean origin,was adopted by a family from Steenhuize-Wijnhuize and lives inVelzeke-Ruddershove. His work is based on personal experiences and everydayobservations and takes the form of collages, in which he brings together paper,canvas or cardboard to create new compositions which he overpaints. He oftendraws inspiration from what happens around the kitchen table: eating or workingtogether, during silences or discussions. In his work, the table becomes ametaphor for interaction, dialogue and confrontation in which tensions betweenthe individual and society can be felt. The table furniture, cut out of canvasand then glued onto canvas, invites the viewer to symbolically “move” it andparticipate in the conversations. In several pieces, you can often still seetraces of his creative process: the pieces of cotton or paper remain visible,as do pencil lines, black smudges and pale drippings.

The title AlmostHome was chosen because the exhibition mainly shows everyday scenes andobjects with household items that refer to home and what it can mean to feel“at home”. The paintings appear in different colours, with various decorativemotifs of tiled floors or tablecloths as contemporary still lifes: a cup of teawith red and purple, plates, bowls, cutlery and empty glasses or an ashtraywith cigarette butts and two wooden chairs that invite you to join in forbreakfast. The exhibition and its theme become even more apparent under thewatchful eye of Leopold, the first king and founder of Belgium, our homeland?

On one of the monumental canvases lies a mute swanwith an open beak, the national animal of Denmark. The swan is surrounded by ablue Russian matryoshka doll with a Kalashnikov, a pair of Chinese chopsticks,a dark mask and an Inuit spear, and an ice cube on a saucer. The folded napkinwith the pattern of the American flag shows one star, perhaps the extra statethat will be added to the United States? The topic of conversation at thistable is certainly about the current developments in Greenland and what it willmean for the “European” inhabitants and its original population. Hyun Dekempeseeks out unrest, emphasises and relativises at the same time, and is veryaware of how symbols speak not only of identity, but also of exclusion. In agreen work, a floor squeegee with a bucket stands in the middle, referring tothe election rhetoric of the Vlaams Blok at the time, or perhaps even to acardboard sign that often appears in the news these days, ICE out?

The exhibition AlmostHome moves between dream and reality and offers the hopeful idea that therecan always be room for discussion and dialogue, for opposing views anddifferent opinions. Almost Home also evokes familiarity, individuality andconnectedness. A feeling of desire and possibilities.

Els Wuyts

February 2026

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