Seoul, b. 1967

Sun Young Byun initially focused on still-life subjects but gradually turned her attention to what was once dismissed as “background” — wallpaper, lace, and calendars. Questioning the conventional hierarchy of value, she seeks to invert and blend established notions of worth, exploring the “identity of value” through visual contradictions. Her works combine images of famous paintings, still lifes, patterns, and furniture across time and culture, celebrating the aesthetics of the overlooked. Through meticulous, repetitive painting-a labor that may seem futile-she engages in a performative act that tests the boundaries between value and valuelessness, transforming the marginal into the core of our lives.