Daejeon, b. 2003

I paint beings that seem to carry the presence of loneliness. These are often things or creatures that feel overlooked—lost items, small animals, confined beings, objects tucked away in corners. They’re nothing extraordinary: common things anyone might own or pass by without much notice. But if you look closely, you might catch a glimpse of these quiet presences that exist between the steps of everyday life. They’re often found just off to the side of the path, missing a part of themselves, or left behind without a clear purpose. Sometimes, in the middle of ordinary life, I feel like I’ve become something “other.” I’ve named this feeling becoming a fake human. It’s a sensation that arises when I’m walking down a street, speaking with someone, or standing among a group of people—moments when I suddenly hesitate to connect, sensing that I’m not quite the same. In those moments, I imagine myself as someone nearly human but slightly off, like a flawed copy—resembling a person, yet missing something essential. I began drawing fragments of "people" through other beings because I believe the things shaped by humans—or whose lives have been altered through human presence—end up resembling us in subtle ways. Whether consciously created objects or living things unconsciously affected by human behavior, these entities are part of the social world we inhabit. And when they’re no longer just someone’s possession, but exist in their own right, they begin to carry a deeper sense of meaning. Their anonymity—the fact that we don’t know where they came from or where they’re going—gives them a kind of quiet, haunting weight. In my paintings, these figures often share similar appearances. Like the strangers we pass on the street whose faces we never fully see, they fade from memory even as they surround us. I once saw a nearly new doll abandoned on the sidewalk. On another day, I passed an old man drawing on the street in the freezing winter. These are the kinds of moments I try to gather—brief scenes that make you pause for a second and look. Through my work, I want to depict the quiet, slightly unbalanced figures of ordinary people—people who, for just a moment, come into view.