A portrait of artist Ben Coiacetto / Courtesy of Ben Coiacetto

By Bereket Alemayehu

Australian-born artist Ben Coiacetto’s first-ever Korean solo exhibition, “Insecure Attachment,” opened last Friday in central Seoul’s vibrant neighborhood of Samcheong-dong. Nine of his paintings, selected from his archive and on loan from private collectors, are on display for the first time in Korea.

“Devouring Conscience” by Ben Coiacetto / Courtesy of Ben Coiacetto

Born in Brinsmead, a suburb of Cairns in Australia’s Far North Queensland province, his childhood memories of oceanic views and volcanic rocks inspired him to immerse himself in a New Surrealism painting style. His work is characterized by richly painted arcane realms where conflicting feelings spill from allegorical beings.

The exhibition features nine of his paintings created in Australia, England and new ones in Korea. Before moving to Korea with his Korean girlfriend a year ago, Coiacetto lived for 14 years in England where he has been doing filmmaking and commercial photography.

“I’ve always painted because I’ve been motivated to kind of have a legacy of paintings that someone discovers and then they connect with it and it helps them feel comfortable with their identity, because that’s what I was like when I discovered surrealist painting,” he told The Korea Times. “I was really lost. I haven’t had any formal art training. I learned from reading books on Dali and accidents and stuff. I started quite late when I was in my early 20s. I’m quite into interviewing people and trying to tell their stories through paintings. I find that really rewarding, learning about someone’s history and then recurring motif of maelstroms.”

Coiacetto namedropped Salvador Dali, a major influence who inspired his techniques.

He makes frequent use of the paranoiac-critical method, a surrealist technique developed by Dali in the 1930s.

He described how he engages in it:

“You just sort of create an image out of a pattern that you’ll see — it can be in a cloud or trees or something,” he said, describing this process further as “staring at a pattern and then forming images out of it, but kind of doing it automatically in a way that reveals something that you didn’t know about you, like motivation.”

“And then after you’ve done it because you are kind of in such a relaxed state and you just expressing all these things that you didn’t quite know were there, and then you step back and look at it and analyze it,” he said.

“Some Taps Run From Baths” by Ben Coiacetto / Courtesy of Ben Coiacetto

He described one of his own paintings, showing a tap that’s running away from the bath.

“It can be interpreted in various ways, but it’s sort of an object that is running away from its responsibilities,” he said. “I think it’s symbolic of freedom, wanting freedom because it’s a fixed object. The ontology of the tap is you would never think of it running away from its duty. It’s so fixed that when you’re in that state, where you’re just completely calm and serene, you can subvert the function of anything, any object, any creature, and it’s such a rewarding way to come up with ideas.”

Coiacetto also highlighted his first solo exhibition in Korea and his impression of the local art scene.

“I’m so grateful for the support I’ve had from people here and it’s such a thriving art scene here,” he said. “It’s so competitive as well. In Korea, there are so many galleries and the standards are so high. I would say that compared to Australia, London has had a prolific art scene for centuries. I don’t want to compare countries, but Korea is also really thriving, Also I like how the government seems to respect and value public art, and you see that in the abundance of spaces that have public sculptures.”

His artist statement describes that “Insecure Attachment” explores the frontiers of New Surrealism, in which art-historical painting techniques are used to render dense scenes framed by psycho-existential themes.

The exhibition title, referencing psychologist Mary Ainsworth’s pioneering work on attachment theory, invites viewers to consider the impact of subconsciously driven human behaviors on relationships and ecological systems.

The exhibition is at a space next to KHJ Gallery until July 28. Visit bencoiacetto.com for more information.

A flyer for Ben Coiacetto’s solo exhibition, “Insecure Attachment” / Courtesy of Ben Coiacetto

Bereket Alemayehu is an Ethiopian photo artist, social activist and writer based in Seoul. He’s also the co-founder of Hanokers, a refugee-led social initiative and freelance contributor for Pressenza Press Agency.