This painting is one of a series of works Young-Il Ahn made as a memorial to the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. These works belong to Ahn’s most enigmatic series, his Self-Reflection series. Featuring abstracted linguistic symbols, most of which reference Hangul text, these works share the idiosyncratic, methodical technique and compositional framework Ahn developed in his Water series. Also in the vein of his Water paintings—which came from a compulsion to convey an ethereal perceptual memory through immutable painted objects—his Self-Reflection paintings seem rooted in the struggle to find an effective visual language to express something that is ultimately perhaps inexpressible.

The text in these paintings is readable at times, in segments, if the reader is willing and able to fill in the gaps and deploy the imagination. But even for those unequipped to deconstruct what may or may not be written on the surface, certain concepts, such as erasure and fragmentation, remain conspicuous in the work. These paintings are reconstructed sanctuaries crafted by the mind and hands of a refugee.

Few works in Ahn’s Self-Reflection series speak more poignantly to this notion than the paintings Ahn created in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11th, 2001. Not only did Ahn feel a deep sense of mourning for this assault on his chosen homeland, he had also married his wife Soraya just two days before the attacks, and Soraya’s three adult daughters had flown to California from New York to attend the wedding. Contemplating the emotional weight of these events, Ahn created a series of chilling compositions that combine erasure and fragmentation; a nuanced, red, white, blue, and green palette; heavily abstracted, smoky grey clouds; and hints of falling lines and crashing forms.