Artist Statement

My work explores fictional organisms that evolve through the accumulation of repeated acts, gradually establishing their own position. A plant's forms, patterns, and colors are not merely aesthetic. They are the result of countless acts repeated and accumulated over time—spreading leaves toward light, extending roots toward water. The shapes can be strange, even grotesque, but that strangeness is the trace of an organism persisting against its conditions.

My fictional organisms carry this same tenacity—and so do I. The standards of Korean society I once relied on no longer defined me in an unfamiliar place where I had to start over. Adrift in that absence, the only thing that sustained me was the habits I created—steady routines, small daily rituals, and relentless studio movements. These were the minimum structures I built to hold myself together. The forms in my oil paintings are traces and accumulations of acts I have performed daily to avoid drifting. A position is not given. I construct it as each day's trajectory overlaps with the last, slowly taking hold within the form. I continue to embed my existence into the canvas, marking my own place.