Artist Young Hee Sung found that poetry added layers of meaning to her paintings, allowing them to feel more complete and mature. Her participation in the 2025 Tryst Alternative Art Fair in Los Angeles became a turning point, deepening this dialogue between image and word. What had quietly accompanied her art now unfolds in full view, where painting and poetry converge, each enriching and illuminating the other.
In this exhibition, artworks sometimes unfold as poems, while poems in turn echo as images - an experiment in how meaning shifts, transforms, and finds its completion through dialogue between word and image.
A distinctive element of After Tryst is its integration of poetry. Audience members are invited to submit poems in response to the artworks. Submissions can be made through lairdartgallery.com or LivePoetryWall.com, where visitors can write while viewing the works. Selected poems will appear on the Poetry Wall online and may also be featured alongside artworks in the gallery, creating an ongoing conversation between visual expression and poetic voice.
Join us for the opening of After Tryst and the launch of Laird Art Link - an Artists & Writers Circle. This new initiative begins with a shared celebration of art and words: selected poems will be read aloud in the gallery, and artists and writers will gather in a salon-style exchange to reflect on process, share ideas, and explore potential collaborations across disciplines.
After Tryst is presented by Laird Art Gallery as part of Ontario Culture Days 2025, with the support of All Seeds Academy, celebrating creative dialogue and the enduring power of shared expression.
Reception & Launch of Laird Art Link
📅 Saturday, September 20, 2:00–4:00 PM
Past