The Covid-19 pandemic threatens human life worldwide and has devastated millions of lives. The current crisis had a deeper impact on the Asian community. Research has shown, racial discrimination against people of Chinese and other Asian ethnicities has risen sharply especially in the United States. Also, with violent crime and using derogatory phrases such as the Yellow Peril, Model Minority, and Chinese Virus.
I am a Korean, immigrated to the United States in 2012. I have been living as a perpetual outsider. I passionately started the second stage of my life here, where I thought the multicultural aspects of America is what makes this country so beautiful and that it is the perfect place to show my artistic desire to various audiences from different cultures, backgrounds, and points of view. However, under the current political climate with the widespread notion: the “model minority stereotype” (Asians in success makes potential competition or threats to the other racial group), against the backdrop of Covid-19, I felt awfully devastated seeing the gap between my ideological perception and the fact of reality with my own political lens. Within the Asian immigrant artist's point of view, I want to express my alienated and frustrated emotion during the pandemic through the Salton Sea project.
‘The Salton Sea Project’ (2020-2021) is a site-specific collaboration project with three Chinese artists exploring the idea of foreign identity juxtaposed with the Salton Sea, an example of a decaying place that has long been abandoned.
This project includes the ‘Stagnant Dream’ work that is a composition of two sculptural painting pieces referencing my exploration of abandoned places and objects, affected by Covid, near where I lived in southern California. Even today, communal places where there were many residents such as the community pool, barbecue grilled area, and a small trail were now turned into abandoned places. And, there were a lot of objects that I could identify with as they all seemed to be very alienated. All of a sudden, the swimming pool strongly caught my eyes. It resonated as a drowsy and mac and cheesy taste of western vibe, but there was a dreary feeling as if it it as never used or taken care of, like a pool of abandoned stagnant water. Withered palm tree leaves and dead insects floated on the bleach and chlorine water surface, slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool.
I tried to infuse my ongoing discomfort into my artwork by applying translucent material and layering hand-cut photographic images with buttery colors. My ambiguous Asian identity transformed into the translucent sculptural medium. I brought the work to the most abandoned body of water, the Salton Sea. I juxtaposed the abandoned objects from the site with a vast expanse of unprotected water. It creates immersive narrative. I put into play my plain dream by interacting with the surrounding environment and interplaying with natural light and shadow to create the extraordinary “Stagnant Dream.”
I am a Korean, immigrated to the United States in 2012. I have been living as a perpetual outsider. I passionately started the second stage of my life here, where I thought the multicultural aspects of America is what makes this country so beautiful and that it is the perfect place to show my artistic desire to various audiences from different cultures, backgrounds, and points of view. However, under the current political climate with the widespread notion: the “model minority stereotype” (Asians in success makes potential competition or threats to the other racial group), against the backdrop of Covid-19, I felt awfully devastated seeing the gap between my ideological perception and the fact of reality with my own political lens. Within the Asian immigrant artist's point of view, I want to express my alienated and frustrated emotion during the pandemic through the Salton Sea project.
‘The Salton Sea Project’ (2020-2021) is a site-specific collaboration project with three Chinese artists exploring the idea of foreign identity juxtaposed with the Salton Sea, an example of a decaying place that has long been abandoned.
This project includes the ‘Stagnant Dream’ work that is a composition of two sculptural painting pieces referencing my exploration of abandoned places and objects, affected by Covid, near where I lived in southern California. Even today, communal places where there were many residents such as the community pool, barbecue grilled area, and a small trail were now turned into abandoned places. And, there were a lot of objects that I could identify with as they all seemed to be very alienated. All of a sudden, the swimming pool strongly caught my eyes. It resonated as a drowsy and mac and cheesy taste of western vibe, but there was a dreary feeling as if it it as never used or taken care of, like a pool of abandoned stagnant water. Withered palm tree leaves and dead insects floated on the bleach and chlorine water surface, slowly sinking to the bottom of the pool.
I tried to infuse my ongoing discomfort into my artwork by applying translucent material and layering hand-cut photographic images with buttery colors. My ambiguous Asian identity transformed into the translucent sculptural medium. I brought the work to the most abandoned body of water, the Salton Sea. I juxtaposed the abandoned objects from the site with a vast expanse of unprotected water. It creates immersive narrative. I put into play my plain dream by interacting with the surrounding environment and interplaying with natural light and shadow to create the extraordinary “Stagnant Dream.”
My new artistic inspiration, the “China Factory,” blossomed during an unexpected business trip in China, when I witnessed firsthand the big cultural disparity between peaceful suburbia in Orange County and the bustling remote manufacturing area of China.
I saw new industrial patterns when witnessing manual labor world, a truly life-changing realization. Even in the most dehumanized mechanical, mass production line, I found micro-scale traces of human touches from the man-made products in their imperfections and expediency, creating a fantastic visual narrative. While composedly aesthetic editorializing these elements, I found a poetic relationship between color and composition in the real scene, bringing me a sense of kinship and solace.
In order to express these strong emotional responses and to explore the after-tastes of my pleasurable experiences there, I intermix various painting layers with the representational photographic images on top of the transparent plexiglass surface. I sparingly layered my authentic paint gesture to the indexical content of the photographs, leaving empty space to invite penetrating light, causing phenomenological and affectual depths in the transparent surface. The translucency of the color palette, such as the artificial tastes of synthetic colors and the human touched expressions that coexist harmoniously and combine with the diagonal and horizontal lines, invites the viewer to think about diverse and spatial perspectives, while simultaneously limiting the information given to the viewer, instigating imaginative creativity of the space.
Looking closely at the artwork, there are hidden gestures of chance operations that signify the explosive energy of the rudimentary product line. The squeeze cracks are unwittingly placed with various color texture. The whimsical tape residues are seasoned very lightly on top of jammed colored shapes. The small cubical color marks are positioned against the real tape residues. I find comfort in a mix of perfect and torn edges of the tapes that express my emotional baggage, ripping away from the perfect finish that is typically the standard for the quality of an art surface.
I saw new industrial patterns when witnessing manual labor world, a truly life-changing realization. Even in the most dehumanized mechanical, mass production line, I found micro-scale traces of human touches from the man-made products in their imperfections and expediency, creating a fantastic visual narrative. While composedly aesthetic editorializing these elements, I found a poetic relationship between color and composition in the real scene, bringing me a sense of kinship and solace.
In order to express these strong emotional responses and to explore the after-tastes of my pleasurable experiences there, I intermix various painting layers with the representational photographic images on top of the transparent plexiglass surface. I sparingly layered my authentic paint gesture to the indexical content of the photographs, leaving empty space to invite penetrating light, causing phenomenological and affectual depths in the transparent surface. The translucency of the color palette, such as the artificial tastes of synthetic colors and the human touched expressions that coexist harmoniously and combine with the diagonal and horizontal lines, invites the viewer to think about diverse and spatial perspectives, while simultaneously limiting the information given to the viewer, instigating imaginative creativity of the space.
Looking closely at the artwork, there are hidden gestures of chance operations that signify the explosive energy of the rudimentary product line. The squeeze cracks are unwittingly placed with various color texture. The whimsical tape residues are seasoned very lightly on top of jammed colored shapes. The small cubical color marks are positioned against the real tape residues. I find comfort in a mix of perfect and torn edges of the tapes that express my emotional baggage, ripping away from the perfect finish that is typically the standard for the quality of an art surface.
My artwork is a pictorial depiction of experiences that represent my nomadic life, each location indicative of my “emotional turmoil” with each new experience.
I was born in a countryside in Korea but began hopping around to major cities including Seoul, Washington D.C., New York, Hong Kong, Michigan and Los Angeles. I experienced the vibrant vibe of big cities but simultaneously suffocated under the energy that permeates through the hustle and bustle, an on-the-go way of life. These places were in stark contrast with some of the less urban places that I also lived in. Ann Arbor and its serene and delightful nature’s beauty provided peace to my heart, similar to my current residence in Irvine. Although each location has opened my eyes to experience a diverse set of views, my mind was cluttered with uncomfortable and unsentimental feelings realizing that each location was only a temporary layover and I was left without a destination to call home.
Amidst the anxiety of living in a new environment, I develop my strength to overcome. I acquired my own style of assimilating. I learned to find the sunshine in meticulous planning and became comfortable with tackling new and unexpected circumstances. My artwork portrays the delightful anxiety driven by this repetitive readjustment. Oftentimes, the view of a new environment overtakes that of the former. This overwhelming feeling is captured by using both a murky surface and soft edge of translucent plexiglass. The translucent material naturally interacts with its environment; however, the translucent characteristic becomes hidden with various layers of sharp, hard-edge cubic forms and shapes that resemble broken glass. This overwhelming composition embodies drowning in the suffocation of constantly moving.
I embraced intuitive organic movement by squeezing various mixed pigments. Adding more layers burgeons a lively rhythm. The layers are seasoned with scratches and cracks resemble the wounds from the turmoil. I also orchestrated contrasting color layers and rigid shapes driven by industrial aspects to visually present a sense of discomfort. For example, the systematic roads of New York City resemble an electrical circuit and trigger an unnatural beauty in my inner composure. Initially, tapes were used to represent my attachment to a current area, but it also highlighted my detachment from a former place. I also Intentionally placed tape stencil to illustrate the influence of the former place in my view of the current area. Simultaneously, this specific material breaks down the rigid aspects, such as cubic forms, within the art pieces. The dual-purpose of the tape serves as a significant part of my artwork.
The fresh perspectives of unique life around the world became the motive of my artwork. The moment of turmoil is an irreplaceable experience planting my seeds of inspiration. Instead of the unease that used to grip me, I now look forward to my next turmoil of chaotic.
I was born in a countryside in Korea but began hopping around to major cities including Seoul, Washington D.C., New York, Hong Kong, Michigan and Los Angeles. I experienced the vibrant vibe of big cities but simultaneously suffocated under the energy that permeates through the hustle and bustle, an on-the-go way of life. These places were in stark contrast with some of the less urban places that I also lived in. Ann Arbor and its serene and delightful nature’s beauty provided peace to my heart, similar to my current residence in Irvine. Although each location has opened my eyes to experience a diverse set of views, my mind was cluttered with uncomfortable and unsentimental feelings realizing that each location was only a temporary layover and I was left without a destination to call home.
Amidst the anxiety of living in a new environment, I develop my strength to overcome. I acquired my own style of assimilating. I learned to find the sunshine in meticulous planning and became comfortable with tackling new and unexpected circumstances. My artwork portrays the delightful anxiety driven by this repetitive readjustment. Oftentimes, the view of a new environment overtakes that of the former. This overwhelming feeling is captured by using both a murky surface and soft edge of translucent plexiglass. The translucent material naturally interacts with its environment; however, the translucent characteristic becomes hidden with various layers of sharp, hard-edge cubic forms and shapes that resemble broken glass. This overwhelming composition embodies drowning in the suffocation of constantly moving.
I embraced intuitive organic movement by squeezing various mixed pigments. Adding more layers burgeons a lively rhythm. The layers are seasoned with scratches and cracks resemble the wounds from the turmoil. I also orchestrated contrasting color layers and rigid shapes driven by industrial aspects to visually present a sense of discomfort. For example, the systematic roads of New York City resemble an electrical circuit and trigger an unnatural beauty in my inner composure. Initially, tapes were used to represent my attachment to a current area, but it also highlighted my detachment from a former place. I also Intentionally placed tape stencil to illustrate the influence of the former place in my view of the current area. Simultaneously, this specific material breaks down the rigid aspects, such as cubic forms, within the art pieces. The dual-purpose of the tape serves as a significant part of my artwork.
The fresh perspectives of unique life around the world became the motive of my artwork. The moment of turmoil is an irreplaceable experience planting my seeds of inspiration. Instead of the unease that used to grip me, I now look forward to my next turmoil of chaotic.