DW#1_2011 Print

I was born and raised in South Korea until my family immigrated to the US in 1988. After about one year at a local high school, I attended Otis Institute of Parsons School of Art and Design. After completion of a B.F.A. degree at Otis, I received a master's degree at California State University at Long Beach. While growing up in Korea, I was taught to follow law and order and to pursue a perfection of skill under Confucianism. Taoism allowed me to enjoy the feeling of process and imagination. Buddhism taught me a way to meditate and contemplate, while Zen showed me how to be spontaneous in every moment of life. Shamanism increased my awareness of a life force behind the visual reality. My works synthesize the influences from my childhood, the higher education I received in the US, and the various cultures from my travels. Over the past 20 years, regardless changes in style, medium, and technique, my work has been the reflection of how I perceive our universe as the following. Everything exists in relationship to others. The relationships sustain the universe and form ultimate unity. The unity comes with the understanding of relationships. Painting is a creative event of relationships that seeks unity.