Artist Statement

'Tension is A Passing Note' is the theme of my work. Through these works I wish to share with others that which I have found to be the most difficult to accept, indeed to bare: the slow passage of a loved one from life into that from which no one returns. Emotionally, physically, I feel a whiplash of despair as I watch my mother heroically fight liver cancer. I want desperately to help her, but how? It is like swimming in the river against a strong current.

In this series of work I employ several handmade papers from Korea and Japan. These papers are representative of the love I have for my mother and the disquietude I feel for her suffering. But in a larger sense these pasted and wrapped papers also embrace those who are likewise caught up in the suffering of their loved ones. It is each of us. Through the use of these articles, tenuous as this medium is, I reach out to you as a way of sharing hope in a pretty tough time.

Biography

I was lucky. I was raised in an atmosphere of fine arts. My father was an architect and my mother a pianist. Together they helped shape my early interest in the visual arts, music, and ballet. Both my Mom and Dad are pure art lovers. They have always appreciated artists who devoted their whole heart to making fine arts. That's how I was raised. It was a similitude of what was to come.

My childhood has been shared between Korea and Japan from where I not only draw inspiration but also retrieve some materials like handmade papers, Sumi-ink and stones. It also inspires my compositions through an intensive use of negative shapes.

After entering Korea University, majoring in Psychology with a minor in Fine arts, I had the opportunity to study Psychology in Munich, Germany. As a result of this study my understanding of human behavior steadily evolved to the point where it helps me to fathom human dynamics on the subconscious level. It also allows me to confidently handle surrealistic subjects in my art. Later I came to S.F. to study Fine Arts, first at the Academy of Art University, where I received a BFA with honors, and then at the San Francisco Art Institute, where I graduated with an MFA. In a word, I am a typical example of the universalization of the human race: Asian and European background, exposed in America. I am very grateful to have a solo show in May at the Freddie Fong Gallery, SF. so soon after a very successful group show in Fall 2005.