LEE Jeongbae (b. 1974) creates works that mirror the image of nature among the city's landscapes, which are privatized and tailored to conform to human needs and desires. Prior to this, the artist experimented with various mediums, including painting, photography, video, and installation. In 2016, LEE began to take an interest in representing deteriorating landscapes that had gradually lost all original meaning through the encroachment of capitalism. These segmented images, which become objets, each act as a landscape that portrays various scenes from nature. LEE Jeongbae's works, which examine the daily life of the city, capture fragments of mountains, rivers, and the sky that peer through the cityscape. These images are separated by geometric forms and expressed through the use of artificial materials such as FRP and aluminum panels. Nature, which has been torn apart by capitalism and materiality, is recomposed by LEE into atypical forms and painted over with color. Completed through a delicate process of painting the surface of the sculpture hundreds of times, these works represent new abstract landscapes expressed through LEE's perspective.
 
Since LEE Jeongbae's first solo exhibition at Munhwa Ilbo Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2005, he has shown at Artside Gallery (Seoul, Korea); Window Gallery at Gallery Hyundai (Seoul, Korea); 16 Bungee at Gallery Hyundai (Seoul, Korea); Seodaemun Prison History Hall (Seoul, Korea); Pibi Gallery (Seoul, Korea); Goodspace Gallery (Seoul, Korea); and the Seoul Metropolitan Government (Seoul, Korea). LEE has also participated in various group exhibitions at the Busan Museum of Art (Busan, Korea); Korean Cultural Center in Brussels (Brussels, Belgium); Buk-Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea); Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea); Arario Gallery (Seoul, Korea); CAN Foundation (Seoul, Korea); Whanki Museum (Seoul, Korea), and more. In 2011, LEE was awarded the "JoongAng Fine Arts Prize," organized by the Seoul Arts Center (Seoul, Korea). His works are included in many significant collections such as MMCA, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, Korea); Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea); Arario Museum (Seoul, Korea); Joongang Ilbo (Seoul, Korea); CAN Foundation (Seoul, Korea); Whanki Museum (Seoul, Korea); and ART OMI Collection (New York, USA).

Intense Abstract Painting Using Light and Physical Properties.

Pannaphan Yodmanee
b.1988, Thailand
Currently lives and works in Nakhon Si Thammarat, Thailand
 
Pannaphan Yodmanee combines found objects, natural elements such as rocks and minerals, and painted elements that recall traditional Thai art and architecture. The artist examines the relevance of Buddhist philosophy to our lives. Through her works, she explores Buddhist philosophy and cosmology. Utilising a combination of raw, natural materials with found objects of contemporary origin, her works imbue the painted designs and motifs endemic to traditional Thai art with the universal and persistent themes of loss, suffering, devastation, and the karmic cycles of death and rebirth. 

Pannaphan Yodmanee has widely exhibited her work and attend international art events including the She POSSIBLE International Women's Day (2023), Art collection in Soho house Bangkok (2023), PARADISE Lost BACC Bangkok(2023), Art Basel Hong Kong (2022), Art Macao (2021), 15th Lyon Contemporary Art Biennale (2019-2020), 11th Bienesse Prize, Southeast Asian, Shodoshima Island, Japan (2019), The 9th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art (APT9), Gagoma, Australia (2018), The 1st Bangkok Art Biennale (2018), TIME LAPSE, Tang Contemporary Art Gallery, Beijing, China (2018), An Atlas of Mirrors, Singapore Biennale 2016, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore (2016), Thailand Eye, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK (2015), Myth/History II: Shanghai Galaxy, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China (2015) and Thai Charisma: Heritage + Creative Power, Bangkok Art and Culture Centre, Bangkok (2014)

Her received numerous awards such as 1st Prize, Bualuang Gold Medal, The 35th Thai Traditional Painting Awards (2013), as well as the 1st Prize of the 1st and the 2nd Young Thai Artist Awards (2006, 2007). In 2016, Pannaphan Yodmanee also won the prestigious 11th Benesse Prize.


Pulrim, through the Pulbada series, explores the way nature manifests as individual entities within the urban landscape. In Pulrim’s works, artificially constructed patterns come together to form seemingly natural sceneries, reflecting our fragmented perception of nature in the city. The sense of tranquility found in these constructed landscapes—could it be a learned comfort rather than an innate one?
By juxtaposing concrete images of nature with abstract, manufactured patterns reminiscent of foliage, Pulrim raises questions about the "naturalness" we so readily accept in urban environments. Fragmented memories of landscapes are reassembled on the canvas, forming an entirely new garden that does not exist in reality—yet feels deeply familiar. This process mirrors the continual formation and reconstruction of nature within the city.
Pulrim’s landscapes are not unfamiliar. They echo scenes we have all encountered, yet never quite in this way. Through these works, viewers are invited to reconsider their daily encounters with urban nature and ask themselves: 

"Is this truly nature?"


Jonas Burgert paints a stage every time that he lifts his brush: with every stroke, with every composition. His works depict the inexhaustible theatre play that Burgert considers to be human existence: man’s need to make sense of his purpose in life. It is a quest that seems inconclusive, but which opens doors to every sphere of reasoning, imagination and desire. Oversized canvases are crowded with fantastical figures of different proportions. Jonas Burgert graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts, Berlin, in 1996 and consecutively studied for a postgraduate title (Meisterschueler) under Professor Dieter Hacker in Berlin.
 
Since 1998, his work has been on view in numerous group shows around the world, including “Geschichtenerzaehler”, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 2003, and “Triumph of Painting Part VI” , London’s Saatchi Gallery, 2006. Since 2006 Burgert’s work has been on view in solo exhibitions around the world.
 
Selected Solo Exhibitions include “ein Dorn weich: Recent Drawings”, Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, London (UK, 2022); “raub und bleib”, Produzentengalerie, Hamburg (Germany, 2022); “blüht und lügt” , Long Museum West Bund, Shanghai (China, 2021); “Blindstich” , Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing (China, 2020); “Sinn frisst”, Arp Museum Bahnhof Rolandseck (Germany, 2020); “Ein Klang Lang”, Tang Contemporary Art (Hong Kong SAR, China, 2019), etc. Selected group exhibitions include “FLOWER”, Choi&Choi Gallery, Seoul (Korea, 2022);  “German Painting Now”, Telegraph Gallery, Olomouc (Czechia, 2021); “Szene Berlin”, Hall Art Foundation (Germany, 2020); “Kirchner · Richter · Burgert, me Collectors Room Berlin”, Olbricht Foundation (Germany, 2019); “Where is the Madness You Promised Me”, Hudson Valley MOCA, New York (USA, 2019), etc.
 
Public collections include Long Museum, Shanghai; Burger Collection, Hong Kong; Denver Art Museum, US; Rubell Family Art Collection, US and Taguchi Art Collection, Japan.

The narrative in literature, as a distinctive discourse system, is based on real life. Through logical coherence, description, lyricism, and interpretation, it creates a distance between fiction and objective reality. The creative inspiration for this exhibition's works originates from Yan Jingzhou's journey to the UK. However, the imagery of British elements goes beyond regional characteristics. Much like accomplished science fiction writers and film directors, Yan Jingzhou, through the creation of an alternative world, brings to light historical or contemporary truths that often elude conventional narratives.
Yan Jingzhou's creations are consistently rich with imagination. His unique perspective, akin to a distorted mirror, reflects an apparently similar yet exaggerated infinite world within the confines of a finite frame. In the town of "Buster" in the fictional world constructed by Yan Jingzhou, most characters still possess the classic characteristics of the "Old Buster." The difference lies in Yan Jingzhou's artistic iteration, expanding from a focus on specific character images to a more extensive depiction of various domains through the technique of fictional narrative. One could say that Buster permeates every nook and cranny of the town. Essentially, Buster and the town can be situated in any corner of the world.
In the construction and portrayal of scenes, Yan Jingzhou exhibits a more precise and vivid mastery. He skillfully intertwines reality and imagination through metaphorical techniques, reflecting the authenticity of life and reconstructing a colorful world. In the town of Buster, seemingly ordinary scenes reflect the humorous aspects of everyday life. The simple tone both highlights the charm of the characters and contrasts with the bitterness of life.  The narratives within the town can unfold in diverse directions, accommodating individuals of varying identities and colors. The plot may feature straightforward actions or embrace a diverse amalgamation of characters and settings, transitioning from a semi-realistic portrayal to a novel aesthetic creation and narrative expression.
In front of the green dessert shop in the West district, a police officer holding doughnuts in both hands unexpectedly locks eyes with a thief who, in disguise, is attempting to slip away. At a bar in the North district's nightlife scene, a bartender with a face covered in mayonnaise casts a sidelong glance at a drunken patron lying down. The youngster peddling chewing gum on the diagonal street in the West district during the day morphs into a playful ghost reveling in the East district at night. Around a long table, individuals of different skin tones, each with a distinct expression, gaze at the baked beans held by the first person. In a fast-food restaurant, two adults are distributing three kinds of condiments to seven children, and so forth. Countless stories are unfolding in the town—upper and lower districts, the sky, dinner parties, exams, str

Sung Min Woo is a contemporary artist who explores ecological order and the dignity of existence through marginal life forms, particularly grass. By capturing the tenacious vitality of grass-often overlooked-the artist extends its quiet resilience into narratives of organic interconnectedness that shape our shared lives.
The work moves beyond simple representation of nature, focusing instead on the values and relationships between beings. Using a distinctive technique of gold leaf and traditional pigments on silk, Sung elevates plants grown in harsh environments into sacred presences. The delicate stems and leaves spreading across the luminous golden surface visualize the unseen flow of life, inviting viewers to reflect on a sense of awe toward all existence and the value of coexistence.

The nature in Jaewon Jung’s paintings encompasses not only nature, which grows on its own without human touch but also nature that has been changed and catered for human preferences and desires. To her, nature is not just an object of contemplation or nostalgia for the lost landscapes, but something that incorporates time, memories, desires, new environment, and experiences that transcend beyond the visible spectrum. Nature continues to change in the past and present, reflecting the relationship between individuals and society, nature and humans, and appears in the most ideal form of that era. As we go back and forth between what's real and what's ideal, we reflect on changes in our perception of nature and ask ourselves what is “true” landscape painting in this era. Beyond realistic and illusory descriptions, she is trying to reproduce nature more sensibly.

Landscape Opens Into ‘The Returning Place’

My paintings explore how landscape opens into The Returning Place.
I am drawn to moments that seem suspended—clouds before they dissolve, waves gathering, or a sky just before night arrives. These fleeting states appear to hold something not yet fully revealed.
Recurring forms such as clouds, waves, moons, and horizons appear throughout my work. What first appears as landscape slowly unfolds into place. Through perception and lived experience, familiar scenes begin to reveal themselves differently.

Rather than depicting real places, I paint the imagination waiting within familiar landscapes. In this sense, my landscapes are not destinations but thresholds—places where perception, memory, and possibility quietly overlap.

My paintings move toward The Returning Place—a place that feels newly encountered yet strangely
remembered, as if it had always been there.

Panuwat "Pay" Kamdee, born in 1999 in Chiang Mai, Thailand, pursued his studies in Fine Arts at Silpakorn University, Bangkok, where he cultivated a unique style that merges traditional Thai art forms with modern techniques and natural pigments. His work often explores the concept of a societal harmonious allegory, symbolizing ideals of unity, balance, and peaceful coexistence. Drawing from Thai mythology and folklore, Pay expresses these themes in a surreal, dreamlike style, presenting accessible and playful pieces that resonate with audiences. His work reflects his childhood memories, making his art both nostalgic and relatable.

Pay has exhibited extensively both in Thailand and internationally, earning acclaim for his innovative approach and thoughtful exploration of environmental and social issues. His art subtly addresses these concerns, inspiring audiences to recognize the depth of his work and its connection to Thai cultural identity. He has also participated in various community art projects, using his platform to promote sustainability and cultural preservation.

His paintings employ layered images of vast natural elements—mountains, oceans, and the 
cosmos—built up through transparent layers

Byun Sanghwan is an artist who observes and deals with various objects.

Like a skilled martial artist, Byun navigates through urban landscapes smoothly, and at the same time, he becomes an anthropologist when observing and studying the bizarre light of some precious phenomena that are found in densely packed cityscapes. These cityscapes are disassembled into tiny units to be reborn through poetic metaphors, paradoxes, and humor, resulting in artistic creations. Everyday subjects, appearing in unfamiliar forms, beckon for a fresh perspective on urban life, while traces of physical endeavors inscribed in artworks evoke both the weariness and vitality of life.

The exploration of conditions that delineate various forms of art is also evident in his work. This includes the weight, volume, and space in sculpture, the surface, canvas and paint in painting, the process and multiplicity of images in printmaking, and the neutrality of objects. Moreover, the theme of time and body which permeates all forms of art. The questions at the boundaries manifest in his creations.

Morae Shin is a contemporary artist renowned for her dreamy yet sensuous artistic world. Her works often employ pink tones and neon lighting, creating a unique atmosphere that blends vivid colors with expressionless figures. Through these figures, she conveys emotions such as solitude and emptiness, inviting viewers to interpret and confront the feelings embedded within her art from their own perspectives.

Since beginning her career in 2013, She has expanded her creative endeavors across various mediums, including digital illustration, painting, and video art. She regards her work as a "diary," capturing elements closest to her heart. This approach allows her to infuse her creations with her distinctive sensibility and personal narratives.

Kwon, Soon-young (b. 1975) majored in Oriental Painting in Dankook University (B.F.A) and Hongik University (M.F.A). She held a number of solo exhibitions including The Land of Ghosts (The SoSo, 2023), A Journey of tears (Gallery SoSo, 2017), the milk of sorrow (Gallery FACTORY, 2014), Flashback (Kwanhoon gallery, 2007), and participated in group exhibitions such as The SoSo special (The SoSo, 2022), CHILDREN CROSSING THE NIGHT (Seoul National University Museum of Art, 2022), The Adventures of Korean Painting: I Will Go Away All by Myself (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Cheongju, 2019), STILL ACTS (Art Sonje Center, 2016), Journey to a fluid Island (Kumho Museum of Art, 2016). Selected for the grant program of Korea Arts Management Service Center, Kwon has been a special artist representing Gallery SoSo since 2022.  
Kwon, Soon-young has been creating her own world of cruel fairy tales with characters representing young beings in agony. (···) Kwon’s work is not about the fantasy itself, which evaporates in an instant, but instead focuses on innocent characters who console the harsh reality, those who await it even though it will only end in vain. Their naïve wishes, endlessly delayed and never coming true in reality, evolve into more powerful fantasies in the artist’s imagination, and with it, the pain in real life gets worse with their ever-growing anticipation. Because the fantasy created by Kwon is inseparable from reality, the more beautiful and gloomy it is, the more pitiful it gets. – excerpted from Eunju Lee, “Fantasy of sympathy and console”

SuRim Hong departs from the temporal layers embedded in the French word 'Jadis (long ago).' Drawing narratives of the past from forgotten objects and traces, his painting is a quiet and expansive meditation on things that have disappeared.

Minji Ryu recalls the emotions she experienced while observing the landscape in her daily life and investigates the manner in which gathered images are displayed in paintings. As a graduate of the Department of Fine Arts at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, she acknowledged the inevitable gap between the experience of gazing at reality and drawing it and took a moment to recognize the landscape that was shared through abstraction and conceptualization. Her paintings focus on the experience of seeing and reproduce the impression produced by substituting an object for a function consisting of light and darkness as a physical image. In this manner, the artist hopes that paintings will serve as a channel for evoking past experiences in the minds of the audience, so reviving their perspective on current life. 

Haafiz Shahimi (b.1986) known as APIS, whose interdisciplinary work spans through printmaking and performance art. APIS began exploring pyrography print in 2014, developing a unique style rooted in Malaysian print and textile traditions. Inspired by batik printing, he created metal matrices depicting cultural and mythological imagery, heated and applied to surfaces like canvas and jute. His experimental approach to temperature variations led him to explore new pyrographic techniques, blending art with scientific principles of thermodynamics. APIS’s work often delves into dualities—science and mythology, East and West, physics and philosophy—establishing him as a boundary-pushing figure in contemporary Malaysian art.

Through his innovative techniques, including pyrography, inverted burn, and direct chemical and petrol burns, APIS has introduced a unique fusion of traditional and industrial materials to his practice. Recently, he combined automotive paint with pyrographic methods to produce vibrant, reflective pieces for Art Central Hong Kong, creating visuals with accidental markings and intentional deconstruction. After a decade, he also returned to the meticulous process of rod-based pyrography to evoke the appearance of charcoal lines, as seen in his recent work, "Desire", which showcases the culmination of his 13-year journey. APIS's impact lies in his transformative approach, which continues to challenge conventional art practices and redefine the scope of Malaysian contemporary art.

Bae Bien U(b. 1950) holds both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Hongik University's School of Applied Art, and has remained internationally active since his first solo exhibition in 1982. In 2006, he was the first Asian photographer to hold a solo exhibition at the Thyssen Bornemisza Museum in Spain, and was commissioned by the Spanish government to film the garden of the Alhambra(Granada, Spain), a world heritage site, for two years. Bae continued to hold large-scale solo exhibitions at venues that range from the Gwangju Museum of Art(2015), the Musée d'art moderne de Saint-etienne(France, 2015), and the Château de Chambord(France, 2015~2016) to the Wilmotte Foundation(Venice, Italy, 2022). He was awarded Lee Jung-sub Arts Award in 2016 and Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts & Lettres from the French government in 2017.

Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist Les Demoiselles d'Avignon (1907), and the anti-war painting Guernica (1937), a dramatic portrayal of the bombing of Guernica by German and Italian air forces during the Spanish Civil War. Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years, painting in a naturalistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. After 1906, the Fauvist work of the older artist Henri Matisse motivated Picasso to explore more radical styles, beginning a fruitful rivalry between the two artists, who subsequently were often paired by critics as the leaders of modern art. Picasso's work is often categorized into periods. While the names of many of his later periods are debated, the most commonly accepted periods in his work are the Blue Period (1901–1904), the Rose Period (1904–1906), the African-influenced Period (1907–1909), Analytic Cubism (1909–1912), and Synthetic Cubism (1912–1919), also referred to as the Crystal period. Much of Picasso's work of the late 1910s and early 1920s is in a neoclassical style, and his work in the mid-1920s often has characteristics of Surrealism. His later work often combines elements of his earlier styles. Exceptionally prolific throughout his long life, Picasso achieved universal renown and immense fortune for his revolutionary artistic accomplishments and became one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.

Antony Micallef (b. 1975, Swindon, UK) is a British contemporary artist working in London. He was notably taught by the austere landscape painter John Virtue, who was taught by the postwar painter Frank Auerbach.
Described as a modern expressionist, Micallef roots his work in social commentary and self-examination. Known for his visually charged figure paintings, he uses oil paint in a groundbreaking way; he is able to literally sculpt and form the paint to reconfigure the parameters of what an oil
painting can be. Combined with his impasto and layering techniques, the oil paint is pushed to its extreme and blurs our reading of painting and sculpture.
Micallef’s recent paintings are created using these unique methods where the oil is changed into a material to realise a new form of physical embodiment.

Eunju Jeong is an abstract artist currently living and working in Daegu, South Korea. After graduating from a Masters degree in Western Painting at Kyemyung University, Eunju Jeong studied abroad at HBK Braunschweig in Germany, where she reached a deeper dimension in her color surface abstract paintings through a calm and stable exploration of the feelings and sensations of color. The artist focuses on expressing her inner flow through various colors that surface the canvas, and has had numerous solo and group exhibitions in various cities at home and abroad (need the names), working both on various flat works and semi-cubic sculptures. For over 30 years, Jeong's work has gone through a process of transformation, from painting to semi-cubic abstraction on acrylic and wooden boards, to a return to painting on canvas. To this day, she continues to work on imagining, contemplating, and dreaming through material and physical attributes, while evoking the emotional and tangible, as well as sensing what cannot be verbalized, codified, or most importantly, reproduced. Jeong's paintings are similar in appearance to chromatic abstraction through the  paint smears, brushstrokes, layers of color, the subtle spaces and crevices they create, the trajectory of the paint as it flows toward the floor by the law of gravity, and the way it smears and solidifies. It also allows us to see the myriad traces of the painting's progress and the passage of time that reveals all of its processes. These dense, wet paintings, with their cool, bold brushstrokes, are at once highly performative and a longing for a representation of a world that cannot be represented, a world that lies outside of visibility but is clearly felt and sensed. At the same time, they are paintings with impressions and tones that evoke a very specific empathy with the beautiful nature.

KIM Inbai(b. 1978)'s works are characterized by the form of asking questions from a new perspective and suggesting a different sensory experience, which confronting the socially formed cognitive biases of humans and the limitations of acquiring spatiotemporal cognition by educating. In most cases, he creates sculptures by transforming the human body, and at which time the body is completely dehumanized and presented as a formative mass itself. From a large statue that signified a dignity of an authority; a clod that express a rounded sense of volume without detailed expression of eyes, nose, and mouth; and the rhythm of the body that contained by a wire across the space, the objects he creates are always dismissed or omitted, but it always implies a clue to visualize the whole imagery. Resemblance of human body, KIM Inbai’s sculpture series imply a social and cultural context or sometimes act as an abstract instrument by maximizing the basic elements of sculpture such as dot, line, volume, and texture. Through these processes, his sculpture becomes a point of contact with the external side, and at the same time it occupies a special point of constant transformation in the inner part, and which make their viewer to face a strange situation that is bordered by familiar but unfamiliar and conscious but unconscious. 

 

KIM Inbai has participated in solo exhibition at Perigee Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2020, Arario Gallery (Shanghai, China) in 2019, Arario Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2014, Arario Gallery (Cheonan, Korea), 2011, DOOSAN Gallery (New York, USA) in 2010, Arario Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2007, and Gallery Skape (Seoul, Korea) in 2006. In addition, he has participated in group exhibition at Taehwa River Eco Art Festival (Ulsan, Korea), CoSMo40 (Incheon, Korea) in 2021, Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2019, DOOSAN Gallery (Seoul, Korea) in 2019, Arario Gallery Seoul I Ryse Hotel (Seoul, Korea) in 2018, BREGA Artist Space (Seoul, Korea) in 2018, Daegu Art Museum (Daegu, Korea) in 2018, Seoul Olympic Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2016, Museum of Contemporary Art (Shanghai, China) in 2016, Asia Culture Center (Gwangju, Korea) in 2015, Arario Museum DONGMUN MOTEL II (Jeju, Korea) in 2015, Sungkok Art Museum (Seoul, Korea) in 2015, Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2014,  Amore Pacific Museum of Art (Jeju, Korea) in 2014, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art (Ansan, Korea) in 2011, MAD (New York, USA) in 2011, Saatchi Gallery (London, UK) in 2009, Busan Biennale (Busan, Korea) in 2006, Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2004. KIM Inbai participated in residency program at Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea) in 2017, DOOSAN Gallery (New York, USA) in 2011, and ISCP (International Studio & Curatorial Program) (New York, USA) in 2009. Major collections include Sigg Collection (Swiss), Arario Museum (Korea) and Seoul Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea).

I am constantly in search of people and places that bring me a sense of stability. In life, I am always confronted with certain thresholds where I long for steadiness. At those boundaries, I find myself seeking environments and situations that help me maintain a calm emotional state. Most of these are familiar to me: my family, my home, my room, and the surroundings that have held me for a long time. When I ask myself where the process of being filled and forming a sense of self first began, I cannot leave out home and family. I hold close to my heart the softness and warmth of these things, and the precious moments at home where I can express my feelings honestly. In doing so, I try to preserve a quiet emotional balance. It was only natural, then, that the act of painting and the choice of what to paint began with what was closest to me. As I step into the home and room marked by my own traces, I find myself covering over the unstable emotions I could not express outside, and recovering a sense of calm and peace. I capture in my paintings the blue wallpaper close to my body, the scattered blue clothes, the blue blankets and pillows—objects that bear the touch of my hand. Along with them, I try to hold within the painting the tactile sensations of these things against the skin, as well as the emotions of those moments: the comfort, warmth, and tenderness that arise from familiarity.

The feeling of fur brushing between my toes,
the rush of air when my father lifts the blanket high and lets it fall while I am lying down,
the snug warmth of tucking the blanket tightly around my body,
the feeling of touching the cool temperature that has settled into the pillow because of the wind outside,
the soft texture of an old blanket worn thin with holes,
a pair of socks turned inside out on the floor,
the faint sunlight slipping through the blinds,
the sunlight and brightness that reach me as I lie down,
the moon visible through the window before sleep...

I gather these emotions and sensations from my own place and wrap them together, trying to paint their atmosphere and energy. In the process of expression, the act of applying materials softly onto hanji, or tearing its surface to reveal its delicate fibres, has itself become a process through which I find emotional calm. Through the repeated gestures of laying down thick layers of paint and scraping them away, or raising the surface of the hanji, I attempt to convey indirectly a kind of fluffy, tender warmth even through the material surface itself.
Ultimately, I hope that a painting, shaped by the attitude revealed in both the subject I look at and the process of making, can become a bearer of warmth—something held close at one’s side—and that the scope of this warmth may gradually expand.

Blue Peak

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Artists