Pretty Pictures That Sting When You Look Closer

Soon Easy fills delicate watercolours with the uglier sides of life. Death, violence, consumption, desire—heavy themes disguised in cute characters and dark jokes. You look because it's pretty, laugh at the absurdity, then feel something sharp when you look again. Spotting the contradictions hidden beneath innocent colours is left entirely to the viewer.

The first image shows an art fair scene. People hold wine glasses and admire works while shopping carts and pixelated icons litter the floor. A large caption reads: '예쁜 그림인 줄 알았는데 세상 돌아가는 꼴이었다. Laugh now, feel guilty later.' It reads like a joke until you scan the details. Next to a plaster statue, graffiti says 'BROOKS WAS HERE SO WAS RED,' and a flag marked 'OIL' flutters above.

The second slide zooms in. Bottom left, a nude figure lies inside an 'Artist Colors' box, the pedestal inscribed with 'BROOKS WAS HERE SO WAS RED.' Beside it sits a Wegovy medication box. The caption adds: 'Look closer and the sweetness starts to sting.' Humour and negativity sit at the heart of his work.

The third image features a red wall with a 'DO NOT FLASH' warning above a skull painting. Visitors photograph it anyway with cameras and phones. The fourth slide shows an adult and child standing before a 'VIP ONLY' entrance. The caption reads: 'Love and hope? VIP access only.' Even love and hope are gatekept.

Soon Easy hides reality's contradictions beneath absurd scenes, leaving discovery to the viewer. Once you've spotted them in the paintings, turn the gaze on yourself. How contradictory were you today?