About The Exhibition

As an artist and designer, it took me a while to notice a common theme of what I pursued to make, however, it was until most recently that I figured out a relationship between all my artworks. This exhibition revolves around the idea of building an unnatural story of inanimate objects. Although the artworks are motionless, the lifeless objects are given characteristics to make them come alive while telling a meaningful story. The artworks together portray a harmony of unnaturalness while individually holding a significant meaning and story behind it that makes the viewers think and wonder. 

Growing up with a Korean background, I was always surrounded by unique Korean objects. A majority of my artworks can be seen specifically using ideas inspired from my Korean background. Moving to Seoul at a young age when curiosity blossomed, I started to gain interest at things I saw around Seoul. In high school I started to research and investigate the deeper meanings behind what the objects signified, the stories they hold, and the history behind them. Using my knowledge, I wanted to dive in deeper by creating artworks that reflected off of Korean culture and its items. This influence helped to present my theme. While some of my other artworks may not use a Korea object, they still have a commonality of using objects and having the same intention of giving the viewers a deep significance. 

When choosing which artworks to exhibit, I focused on different factors. The selection of my works was based on whether all my artworks gave the same atmosphere to the viewers. I wanted the viewers to have a similar emotion when seeing each artwork individually. Another factor I considered was whether the artworks look visually appealing together. I felt that the exhibition should be in sync with how they look whether that was stylistic features or colors. The visual patterns that can be seen throughout the exhibition are bright colors and objects. The artworks that I selected also have the same intention of giving unnatural features to non living objects.

I decided to use a variety of materials and techniques because I felt that delivering different stories required specific techniques. An overall technique that I incorporated a lot into my artworks is the use of layering or stacking. I noticed this pattern the more I continued to make artworks. The effect of layering and stacking are different in each artwork. One of the materials I used is using actual objects to make 3-dimensional artworks. I made the objects have unnatural characteristics because I felt that it was the most effective way to portray the intentions of the artwork. For certain artworks, I felt that the presence would not be dramatic as it would be if it were 2-dimensional. Another technique that I used is silkscreen for “Best Things Come In Small Packages”. These silkscreened postcards were designed to simply bring happiness to people around me. The black outlined images layered on top of the bright colored shapes are simple. I wanted to show how these everyday images can delight someone’s mood. I also used acrylic paint and watercolor which are simple, but they can set the mood for an artwork. I thought that acrylic paint would make the artwork look like a traditional still life painting. I used watercolor to make the artwork look dramatic by the water strokes since it holds a significant meaning. Two of my artworks are made digitally. It is ironic that it is very modern with old traditional Korean objects. 

The exhibition is set up in an enclosed area to have the viewers feel surrounded by my artworks. This will allow the viewers to be focused and not be distracted. I also placed some artworks together because they have more similarities than the other artworks. I also spread out the 2-dimensional artworks and 3-dimensional artworks, so that the viewers can get different feelings. “Migration II” which is the largest 3-dimensional piece is placed right in the middle like a wall so that the viewers can take a look at the piece all around. The works are spread out because each artwork holds a different story and significance.