Object and subjective (white medium)

I employ the medium of painting to either communicate with my inner voice or enter into dialogue with a community.

Oil paint, scrape, sand from all of mankind on 617 w. evergreen ave on canvas

Originally from S. Korea, a mono-ethnic country, I am interested in racial dynamics with diverse ethnicities from different backgrounds and cultural heritage. Unlike homogenous culture, living in the particular environment helps me to learn other people stories and create a learning space together. Although it creates racial complexities, it challenges to think power dynamics and how to understand one another, posing a question of positionality.

The series of work "Object and Subjective painting (2018-)" is to investigate whitewashed mural "All of Mankind." The mural All of Mankind reflects the national movement for human and civil rights during the sixties and seventies and symbolizes the unity of the human race with four intertwined figures —Jesus, Dr. King, Malcolm X, and Anne Frank. The building was sold in 2015 to a new private owner. On December 10th, 2015, the owner whitewashed the mural while a small group was trying to raise funding in order to preserve it. The whitewashed mural All of Mankind (1973) is located on 617 W. Evergreen Ave. I conducted field trips to the mural as my artistic practice. I discover that someone scraped the whitewashed mural to see the imagery underneath. Inspired by the residue of the marks and scrapes from the building, I start to collect the scrapes from the facade of the church, and translated into my painting. Although it became an abstract work, the material represents site specific memories.