Hahm Donghyoup (b. 1989, Seoul) lives and works in Berlin. His early artistic training began at the prestigious Click Academy in Hongdae, Seoul, where he studied art from the age of 15 to 19. Following this, he pursued fashion design at the University of Myoungji and worked across various creative fields, including fashion, graphic design, and illustration. In 2019, he moved to Berlin to fully dedicate himself to painting, drawing on his diverse background to inform his work, which ranges from traditional oil and acrylic paintings to digital techniques.

Often balancing between figuration and abstraction, Hahm’s visual language engages with the tension between classic painting and graphic illustration. His compositions explore the blurred boundary between the real and the subconscious, the tangible and the imagined, creating subjective environments — from views out of a friend’s window to fleeting afterimages and phosphenes.

His digital paintings, in particular, evoke the sensation of snapshots from surreal, colorful realms, sometimes inhabited by whimsical creatures. His love for color shines through in compositions that range from muted, distorted tones to vibrant, intricate worlds, inviting viewers into a playful yet enigmatic exploration of color, form, and perception.