Artist's Statement

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   Painting, for me, expresses the memories of an individual’s everyday events and tells the story of person’s experiences. I thought a lot about how to express it into visual compositions, I’ve been thinking a lot about how I should express my own linguistic symbols in a detailed or simplified way.

 

   Over the past four decades, my artistic journey has involved an incessant process of drawing, erasing, and painting the imprints of my memories. In early years, I attempted to put a lot of stories within white space, but now I try to draw as few images as possible to give the impression of an empty space, the comfort of a free space.

   I tried to express it from intricate forms to simplified shapes and from vibrant hues to simple colors. In the choice of materials, I tried to use Hanji (Korean Paper) and Chinese ink to express my unique identity

 

   Having spent 30 years abroad, I feel lonely and alienated as I rediscover my childhood memories, the faces of my friends from my hometown, the streets that have changed, and the stranger I have become. These emotions are my honest feelings in my daily life.

 

   The themes in my recent works are “longing” and “loneliness”. I strive to articulate these emotions within empty spaces, and by erasing it, I am soothing my heart, untangling the complexities of the past, purifying my burdensome heart, and discovering my identity.

   I want to mix simplification, monochrome, tranquility and at times passionate emotions to convey a sincere confession on the canvas. Perhaps it is meditating and finding a path to inner confession, equanimity, and seeking.

 

   I paint landscapes of imagery within the voids of the canvas. It is a mythical landscape and a dream-like ideal world. My daily ritual involves the repetitive act of drawing and erasing symbols, constructing new forms and images within the vanishing spaces.