God’s Creation World

It is actually not necessary to explain the art works, because they witness God’s creation world by themselves. If I would have to explain my art works, God’s creation world is One and Communion. This art consists of three different worlds (Triptych): Cosmic world, virtual world, and Transcendental world. They are composed of 8 modules in each world and total of 24 modules. Cosmic world expresses “the universe is one” through many holes in one expression of gravity. Virtual world expresses “the virtual and real world on one” through many kinds of abstract in expression of our reality being one illusion. Transcendental world expresses “everything is possible in God’s World and God’s Spiritual world is one” through a big round in one total field. This works are colored in only white, for expressing the ultimate dimension of God’s Creation. I would like to invite all audiences into the white color fields for experiencing the ultimate Space, by ceasing daily conscience of reality.

The circulation of memory and color

I speak for consilience of the East and West through the circulation of my memories and colors. Being from both, I experience my own transcendence and vitality in color. Color itself has a free spirit and creates a new world. It is, thus, a life in which memories breathe.

While I employ the landscapes of China and Turkey, my works utilize geometric perspective and abstract expression, both integral to a Western approach. I experiment with fusing the absolute black and white of Western foundations to the brown and red of the Eastern traditions. The shared natural colors, however, allow the geometric perspective at different orientations to build a cycle, suggesting a breathing creature of color. This melding of color, geometric perspective, and memory pierces the conventions of both civilizations.

Sand paper and masking tape are central tools. The masking tape territorializes my fractions of memory. The sand paper carefully scratches the oil painted landscapes. Both ways allow the unexpected to refresh the free movement of memory and color. This outstanding method sometimes requires multiple attempts to capture the concept in full. In this way, I discover a language of color anew by seeking the transcendental vitality of color in memory.

Cultural Statement

I have lived in the East and West for many years since childhood, and broadened my knowledge by traveling abroad. I perceive the historical divide between the Oriental and Occidental worlds. But it is becoming one world, one counterbalancing the other as a cosmopolitan system is realized. Therefore, through my reflection on both, living color expresses mixed objects of both East and West.

I was born in the United States but I was educated under the Confucian standards of South Korea. After high school, I went on to earn a BFA with honors studying Visual Arts in New York, yet I also had the opportunity to study at the Barcelona Art Institute. So I find myself absorbed naturally into the traditional Confucian norms even while I draw from my diverse cultural experiences to constantly create artwork with free imagination and amusement. Moreover, influenced by the playground of shape and color within Abstract Expression and Surrealism, I have experimented with breaking normative orders, showing my art world through 6 solo exhibitions since middle school.

All this time on the canvas I have worked on abstraction, painted semi-figurative with oil color and re-interpreted oriental landscapes. I never missed an opportunity to refine my technical skills. In recent years, in the process of expressing memory by color, I tried new methods, which are the sand paper and masking tape application. The diligence of solo exhibitions helped me to get the most out of oil-painted landscape; I would carefully scratch it with sand paper. This method allows the color to come out in a raw way. The masking tape is also used to territorialize the fractions of memory. These techniques invite the unexpected so I have given each painting multiple chances to refresh the circulation of your memory and color.

In this way, my works, established on cultural experiences from the East and West, are expressed by color. And I will continue to experiment with diverse techniques in order to create my own art language, combining the East and West for many careers to come.