"Edge" Painting

Short Story of Alice
‘I’ series

My paintings merge different aspects of landscape, still life, and portrait together. I live and work within two environments including Korea and the United States, which represents the East and West. The two environments differ in their meaning and symbol of expressions due to differences in its philosophy and history. I am working on blending these two environments naturally.


‘I [AI]’ in English and ‘ㅣ[i:]’ in Korean has similar shapes as vertical line and both are representing self, and human. I thought this is describing process of my diptych painting.

The ‘I’ series was drawn vertically, horizontally and again vertically, as if setting up my own formula. As if a clock shows the footage of time, while painting, I want to present the process of building relationship(rapport) between colors and shapes, that are singing and having conversations.

I have always been curious whether others go through a similar process. Even if we do not travel between the East and the West, our minds operate in between places such as at home and at school or work, within various relationships between family and friends, as well as at the boundary between dreams and reality.

I continuously question and contemplate whether my complete self really exists, how similar it is to my self formed in a relationship, and whether there is something that can be called a “true” fact. When the viewer steps in front of my paintings, the paintings that have emerged from myself become the reflection of the viewer. Through this process, the letters ‘I’ and ‘ᅵ’ that appear as a standing person have become an important point of initiation for my future painting.

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