CODA at Kiaf SEOUL: Booth A27

CODA explores grief as a shifting emotional landscape, moving through desperation, lamentation, numbness, emptiness, and, ultimately, the possibility of acceptance. Rather than narrating these experiences, Uldalen allows each painting to inhabit a different state. Some works depict solitary figures suspended in darkness, while others bring multiple bodies together in fractured scenes of collective anguish. The series acknowledges that grief is rarely linear; it returns, intensifies, recedes, and leaves traces long after loss.

Uldalen’s expressive figuration heightens this sense of psychological intensity. His figures emerge from deep, atmospheric darkness through vigorous impasto and gestural marks, balancing classical representation with abstraction. The recurring presence of obscured or closed eyes turns the body inward, transforming his subjects into vessels for emotions that remain difficult to articulate.

was raised in Norway and is a self-taught expressionist artist whose practice combines classical figuration with contemporary

impasto. His paintings explore loneliness, longing, and inner turmoil through emotionally charged representations of the human figure. Uldalen has exhibited internationally in Seoul, New York, London, Oslo, Los Angeles, and Skagen.