VR컨티뉴

Based on my own experience, I discover absurdities in everyday life that are easy to overlook, and express them through a mixture of my own perspective and a calm smile. The daily life that is the subject of my work is the daily life of the modern city I have lived in, stretching from Daegu to Seoul to Tokyo and back to Daegu. Even if you move from city to city or country to country, the system called a big city is all similar, but I don't know if the ironic scenes seen here are a characteristic of the city or a universal human phenomenon that occurs when large numbers of people gather together. However, in urban life, we see every day a situation in which humans lose their individuality and freedom, act mechanically, half on their own and half against others, under the systems and rules of the big city, and become increasingly objectified. The crumpled or folded clothes and belongings (objects) that appear in the work are ultimately images of us. Sometimes, the images of people commuting to work or school on crowded subways are compared to bundles of clothes filling a dresser drawer. In order to load up on passengers, the station staff are cramming people into a large closet, not a subway train. In addition, all kinds of vehicles made of square iron are drawn by comparing them to filled cans. I enjoy drawing public transportation, which is a space where people can be observed in various ways at once.

Since returning to Korea in 2017, I have continued to use boxes as my subject matter to depict daily life in the city through prints, installations, and paintings. We live in a standardized space like a square box to efficiently accommodate (storage) a large population. These box spaces are a mixture of the ‘willingness’ of choosing to live side by side in the city and the ‘willingness of the system’ that provides small citizens with only very narrow options for housing. The important thing is that this box is the space we live in, and whether we like it or not, it contains our daily lives.

Although it wasn't my intention, I have often drawn characters who spend their own time in private spaces. Because that was the city life I experienced. During the period of social distancing that began in February 2020, I lived my life as usual, at least in the studio, except that there were no acquaintances who used to visit the studio and gatherings disappeared. I work alone, search for information on the Internet, look up news and information while taking a break, eat alone, and work again. The time I spent quietly working alone was always a time when I was filled with ‘me’ and was very spiritually fulfilled, but due to the pandemic, it seems that everyone has experienced this experience in an involuntary but profound way. The boxes of the city that both isolate and fulfill me. Through my works, I send warm support to those who are looking back at our daily lives, which are still changing and alive.