Hyung Koo Kang's exhibit at SAM...

Another recent exhibit I got to visit was The Burning Gaze which featured works by Korean artist Hyung Koo Kang.

The exhibit was at the SIngapore Art Museum, and I got to see the exhibit for free because I went on a Friday at 6PM. (Free entrance to SAM every Friday, 6-9PM).

Almost all the pieces on display were paintings of well-known personalities, as well as a number of self-portraits.

From what I read, Kang's technique is a style that seems like photorealism.Simply put, works under this genre are paintings that appear photographic.

And appear like photographs the paintings did.

I couldn't help but be amazed at the tremendous attention to detail seen on each work.

Most of the pieces were huge, occupying a significant part of each wall of the exhibit space.

Intense. Hyper-realistic. These were some of the words use dto describe the works of Kang.

I have to agree.

Another thing I have to agree on is how SAM described what the paintings do to exhibit visitors.

"In our media-saturated age, the sheer quantity of images that we encounter daily in print and digital forms encourages us to look, but not see. Kang's paintings precisely force us to stop, and see," wrote SAM.

Looking back now, that's exactly what I did while I was at SAM for the exhibit. I stopped. And I didn't just look, but I saw. And I was conquered by the paintings.