Notes from Neil:

I drew, painted, and glued everything in this exhibition in my time in Da Nang (March 17th to July 14th 2025). Some of the canvases were taken from the hechyeomoyeo group show at Space Garden. There, several people were painting alongside and with me to create spontaneous large scale works. We created freely, searching for an image or some sort of coherence or maybe simply enjoying creating. 

The largest framed canvases were found in the street, on the same corner, at two different times. There must be some artist in that neighborhood, about 4oom from my airbnb, who continually buys or makes these stretched canvases and then abandons them, in their entirety, to the sidewalk. I carried them back to my place and painted over, and with, whatever design was already there. Thus enacting a ritual like the palimpsest, the works that would come to be are inspired, or haunted, by the previous conditions of the text
(painting location). 

For materials, I work with whatever is available. Paints left lying around, random markers, pens, paper, sometimes a brush, sometimes a business card. Some of the works were made outside and left in the rain overnight. If there is a large section of a certain color paint, the color choice was probably made due to the available quantity of that color, and not so much the colors relation to the work. Several of the works were taped in my shower, where I could, without producing too much of a mess, freely pour paint, drip water, and draw on such a large space. 

Why snails? I had first considered the snail while working as a teacher in Korea when a student told me they had a pet snail. For some reason, this struck me. As time goes on, I think more about what a snail is like. It has a shell, which protects it from the physical violence of the world. It moves slowly. 

In Vietnam, snails are more common to eat than other places I have been. I started to think more about whether or not snails have experience as living creatures. For me, the snail is an icon in the library of my memory; a tangible image I associate with a specific experience, and which I continuously recall and summon. The snail is sacred (hence so many halos). 

Let us now ponder the snail and, if it is possible, imagine the world it sees. How does the snail view everything that is going on? Is the world they see somehow realer than the real world we see? Do snails have student loan debt? I imagine how different two people can see the world. If that is possible, then animals, insects, and other complex organic entities might experience reality in an utterly incomprehensible manner. 

In conclusion, I would like to invite the audience to reflect on several questions.

What trace of memory do they continuously manifest in their own lives?

What is sacred in their lives?

Would they ever have a pet snail?