"Virtual Vacation" Painting

We all perceive the world through specific frameworks of understanding, interpreting reality through the prism of our personal values and conceptions. The experiences and memories we have accumulated make it impossible to maintain a completely objective and unbiased perspective. My artistic vision, filtered through this subjective prism, has focused on dichotomous boundaries such as 'inside and outside, surface and depth, person and person, reality and virtuality, truth and falsehood.' These boundaries exist not as simple dividing lines, but as precariously thin membranes—spaces where social norms and personal desires constantly collide and negotiate. It is precisely at this point of tension that I discovered the 'mask' as a point of compromise. The mask functions as a mediating device between the social subject and the inner authentic subject. However, as the masks we wear in modern society become more diverse and complex, the essential identity hidden behind them becomes increasingly fragmented and ambiguous. Eventually, we face a profound ontological question—whether I am wearing a mask, or whether the mask has become part of me. This ironic phenomenon reflects not merely personal experience, but the symptoms of identity confusion and loss commonly experienced by modern individuals. Nevertheless, we can never completely abandon our masks. Removing the mask entails the risk of exposing our most vulnerable desires and realities to the world. Therefore, we continue to replace masks according to each situation, finding comfort in the protected space inside the window, and perpetuating the role-playing that society demands. Rather than simply criticizing this phenomenon, my work seeks to reflect the complex cross-section of the era in which we live as artists. I particularly focus on points where identity and communication undergo aberrant changes, exploring visual languages that can provoke reflection and alternative thinking about these issues. Our era always exists between dichotomized worlds, and the gap at these boundaries is narrowing due to technological and social changes. Within the flow of this rapidly changing era, I continue my artistic practice by expressing through my artistic language the constantly changing stages, the masks that are replaced accordingly, and the temporal changes captured in between.