Security Blanket

I revised the project inspired by Tara Donovan's work, bringing the previous one into another level of complexity and sophistication of idea. I added a new element of flexibility to give the sculppture an active quality.

Rather than gluing each cup with hot glue, I joined each styrofoam cup with fishing line to make it flesible. Sewing the cups with fishing line was an excellent choice since it is transparent for the viewers and the process was less time consuming that using hot glue. Eventually, I ended up making a piece the size of a single bed of styrofoam cups which reminded me of a security blanket that I had used in my childhood.

This extremely flexible sulpture is easily adaptable to any kind of environment; I can either cover myself with the blanket or put it on any surface of furtniture or even rocks. I basically produced a sculpture that has a dynamic relationship with both the audience and myself. I believe this piece of art provokes a strong desire to wear it and offers the audience the exceptional visual excitement of observinc the organic pattern of the white cups.

Lego in Robson

LEGO is such an integral part of our lives even till today. It’s the toy that many people perceives timeless and worth keeping. Lego is our ultimate childhood memory. Lego is our basic toy that satisfied our young and playful creative and innovative imagination. It is not easy to deny it, but we never really grew out of Lego.
In this collaborative project with Minji Kim, called “Lego in Robson”, we were inspired by Lego blocks and created two blocks of Lego in red and yellow. Since Lego has clean surfaces and lines, building Lego was one of the biggest challenges that we had faced while assembling the facsimile Lego. We used two large cardboard boxes as basic structure and added round cylinders on the top of each one; this was the lightest and most effective way to build the sculptures. To make the rough surface of the cardboard boxes smoother and neater, we glued thick bristle boards on each side of the blocks. And then, we evenly sprayed colourful and glossy enamel paints (red and yellow) to mimic the real quality of plastic.
After we completed making the two large blocks of Lego, we pulled the blocks with a yellow rope around them along on Robson St. and Granville St. By carrying Lego while wearing semi-formal suits in the heart of the city, Minji and I could visually articulate the fact that we as students still maintain childish and playful aspects in our unconscious. Also, the walking with Lego blocks along fancy streets is a visual representation that even adults still carry a childish and playful side within them.
At the beginning, we were very self-conscious about carrying big brightly painted Lego blocks down the streets and could not walk comfortably. However, the encouraging and cheerful comments from people really inspired us to be more comfortable and confident in front of crowds. Unfortunately, a few people expressed some negative comments about us which were a bit hurtful, since we did not expect to hear criticism from people. As time passed by, we gradually did not mind about getting stared at and people taking pictures of us. We documented this act of pulling Lego through downtown by getting help from our friend to take pictures. We specifically asked him to consider the Golden Rectangle while taking shots of us, giving a clearer emphasis on our Lego. Again, we want to transmit the main message that although people have grown and appear as adults, our minds are still young and fresh.
This is our first attempt to produce a piece of performance art in streets and it seemed a little terrifying to give it a try. Since collaboration is about respecting and acknowledging each other’s ideas, we had to consequently make some compromises and adjust ideas to make us satisfied with the result of the project. In the end, we learned a valuable lesson that every idea that seems to be overwhelming for one person to do can be seamlessly developed and effectively produced when working as collaboration.

Melting Monument

While I was waiting the candles for my first candle wax artwork, Celebration of Maturity, to melt down, I created another artwork called Melting Monument which is an abstract form of monument for melting icebergs. I created an iceberg structure with chicken wire and then placed approximately 15 white candle sticks in the small gaps between the wires. As the candles in the structure melt down, they created a huge island of candle wax as if to symbolize the melting ice due to global warming. With this particular artwork, I could capture the current stage of life of an iceberg at the North Pole. The candle residue also created some interesting and intriguing patterns on chicken wire. Also, I hope the hollowness of its structure cautions the viewers that we as the members of society need to protect our nature and preserve it well so that our future generation can enjoy its beauty.
Also, I realized about the importance and preciousness of preserving nature. I learned a valuable message that once we have destroyed it, we can not bring it back.

Celebration of Maturity

I have created two pieces of artwork that represent the life cycle of human and nature, incorporating candle wax as a medium, which also has a strong message of time passing in itself. As the candles melt they create icicles of wax, constantly shifting and totally changing in shape. Seeing an art work by Barbara Nasto, I immediately found myself emotionally moved by the three dimensional texture and the organic patterns from liquid candle wax residue. The first piece of wax sculpture, called Celebration of Maturity is my own interpretation of a big birthday cake for celebrating 18 years of life using 18 candles. Each candle symbolizes each year that I have lived on earth. I have selected two clear plastic containers and a glass jar as a base for the melting candles. Moreover, the colours of the candles, mostly warm colours, represent my burning passion for art throughout my 18th years of life so far.
When creating this, my biggest challenge was to control the amount of wax on a specific desirable place for aesthetic reasons. To solve this problem, I used a lighter to have control of the wax residue falling on my work. The use of the lighter effectively sped up the progress of the melting candles. Waiting the candles to completely melt down required my patience and I felt as if I was testing my endurance. This project offered me quite time of meditation to look back at my 18 years of life and what I have been through to finally become an adult.

Wastebasket 2 Go

Further to my previous artwork “Waste 2 Go” visualizing my favorite drink, Milk 2 Go, the inspiration for this artwork came from a trash can from which I collected empty bottles, cans, and cups for recycling. While I usually discard these items, I want to reinterpret their value and meaning. Creating and gathering my own bottles and cans was my artistic version of the mass production and consumption around us. The disposable objects people habitually dump can be recreated as beautiful and visually pleasing structural objects. To create contemporary visual effects, I used wire mesh. The shiny metallic reflection and flashy appearance as well as see-through effect also imply our current futuristic design trend.

Going Back to Nature (repeating multiples 0809)

This particular artwork, called “Going back to Nature” represents a log. Since I was given a limitation of materials I could use for this project of “Repetition Multiples”. I had to push myself to find the characteristics and limits of paper. In the thinking process, I focused on the origin of the abundance of office papers that we use on a daily basis for printing and work purposes. These papers are from trees in a forest and I was trying to bring fragile and flat sheets of paper back into its natural form. To make this office paper stayed, solid and firm, I started to roll sheets of papers diagonally. This method was the far most efficient and fastest way to make paper solid and rigid.
Just a few months ago, I had a chance to meet a Canadian artist, Michelle Allard, in a Buschlen Mowatt scholarship program at Arts Umbrella. Similar to this project of “Working with Many”, Michelle had numerous rolled florescent paper piled to create an illusion of hills. This gave me the source of inspiration for this project that simple objects like rolled paper can hold a very powerful aesthetic value. Her work was mostly a labour based artwork, requiring many volunteers to roll papers.
The log that I have made with hundreds of rolled papers contains age rings to recreate the essence of a cross-section of cut logs. Also, rolling hundreds of sheets by myself was a such a overwhelming experience that it took me over 10 hours to complete the project. Although numerous hours has been put into this piece of artwork in the midst of a tight schedule, I have no regrets about spending so much time on it. For the next project, “Evolving Duration Project”, I would like to create an art piece that can be made within several hours.

ARTS 2008 1st Place Award - Into the Depth

Into the Depth, oil, acrylic and cold wax on paper

Into the Depth is an oil painting of modern architecture. I was really attracted by the calm atmosphere of the modern inner sanctum of the indoor pool. Also, the image gave me a primordial urge to dive into the aquamarine depths of the water and enjoy moments of relaxation, escaping from the burden of daily routines. The use of cold wax allowed me to express the translucent qualities of pristine water to recreate my own tranquil space.

The Path to Maturity mixed media sculpture 2008

The Path to Maturity mixed media sculpture 2008

air-dry clay, print, magazines and books, acrylic

48cm by 38 cm by 60 cm

This particular artwork tells a story with a very special meaning about me. The head, made out of air-dry clay, is collaged with organized, patterned images of numerous library book stacks. As a senior high school student, I gradually spent more time in a library studying for exams. Slowly, the image of bookcases was embedded in my head becoming the source of inspiration for the surface of my head. These images represent my development of maturity and the amount of knowledge that I digested through my high school years. This peaceful and calm atmosphere of the library well relfects my personality.

signal - tape installation

Signal summer 2007 masking tape & gel medium
(tape installation)

This installation of optical allusion was inspired by the works of Banksy. With blue masking tape on two walls and wooden floor, I created an image of signal strength. It was necessary to find a right angle and right standing point. If I look it from a certain spot, the signal bars look as if they are straight. I chose the signal strength sign of cell phone because it is one of the most familiar icons in this era of telecommunication, and symbolizes connectivity.

WASTE 2 GO

Artist Statement (Waste 2 Go)

Instead of throwing away a large number of bottles daily, I was intrigued by this idea of repoducing, Milk 2 Go bottles, which is one of my favorite drink. Two sets of bottel mold case are my personal artistic response to the mass production of milk bottles. To create different visual effect on the box, I ripped the surface of a card board box leaving unexpectedly beauful aesthetic pattern. Making the milk bottles with wire mess and aluminiium foils, I wanted to emphasize that the plastic bottles people habitually dump can be recreated as beautiful and visually pleasing structual objects. Some of the bottles with missing parts represent the defects that are found during the mass production. The shiny reflection and flashy appearance of the bottles also imply our current futuristic trend of design.

ARTWORKS

Light 2006 charcoal

Using charcoal, I draw the upper interior of a shopping mall. I was fascinated by the contrast of the strikingly bright light coming from the ceiling and the thick black steel beam within the ceiling.

Symbol M, McDonald

"Symbol M" is pop art using accrylic paints. Our society seems to be mesmerized by one of the fastfood companies, McDonald. We see McDonald's ads on TV or on the bus. The reason that I chose the pop art project is because I personally think that it is a great tool to reflect our social and cultural atmosphere in which we currently live, namely what we like, what we think, what kinds of value we admire. This project led me to realize how McDonald affects and impacts our society. Being fast and convenient is one of our most important values in our ordinary lives.

Extreme Power Vacuum 2005 pencil & color pencil

This drawing is one piece of a series of pencil drawing of Extrem Power. I was very interested in various models of vacuum. When I saw this extreme power vacuum, I wanted to capture the imaginery scene in which the powerful vacuum was sucking up the light dandelion seeds.

Extreme Power 2005 pencil & color pencil

As one of a series of Extreme Power, this drawing shows my imagination that a powerful and heavy staple machine is blowing out the dandelion seed into the air.

Glowing Night Spring 2006 oil

This is a painting in oil of the late night scene of downtown Vancouver in early winter. I started by applying Gesso on the canvas to get an interesting texture which resembled raindrop One of the challenges in this project was to capture the atmosphere of a rainy and blurry image and the moment of stillness in deep darkness. My focus was on the glowing neon sign and the reflected lights on a wet road in contrast to the dark background.

Self-portrait summer 2006 mixed media on paper

This is one of my series of self-potraits. This mixed media painting is my own reflection in the mirror in my art studio during break time. I tried to capture the real image and mood of myself reflected in the mirror and at the same time the vague of shadow of me on the wall. Colorful marks around the mirror displays my words of silence and reflect my messy personality.

ARTSPACIFIC2007

commitment 2007 oil on board

Artist statement: This art piece in oils strongly reflect my commitment during my recent several teen years. At every dental appointment with Dr. Koh, my braces were readjusted and consequently gave me enormous pain and suffering. While this set of metal caused me to go through an uncontrollable internal struggle, it finally became my close friend and the strong supporter of my teeth and spirit. I really wanted to express, on a wooden board, my endurance and lite-time commitment toward the successful end.

Dream 2006 acrylic

This painting is a spontaneous response of my subconscious state of mind on canvas. The green scenery with dots of flowers resembles the backyard in which I played during my childhood. By putting layers of overlapped glass on the left, I created two contradicctory atmosphere in the piece itself: the fragile characteristic of glass and the image of a wild field. I love the contrast between the artificial and the natural. They also enhance the mood of mystery and unsolved mind-puzzles, which most people experience in their afterthoughts about their dreams.

ARTSPACIFIC April 2007 by Delta Art Council
Firehall Center, Delta BC Canada

Tsunami 2005 mixed media on paper

Tsunami 2005

On December 26, 2004, the whole world was shocked by the disaster that happened near the Indian Ocean. Then next day, the front pages of most newspapers were covered by pictures of the tsunami's casulties. One picture really touched me : a crying mother holding her dead son. I was determined to reflect the catastroophic social atmosphere with acyrlic paints. "Deadly Disaster" conveys a message. - Even though the disaster casues suffering to many people, there is still hope and peace. Especially, I was keen to associate hope with the biblical story: Noah's Ark. I placed the boat at the top using bright colors and two tragic casulities at the bottom using dark colors. Dripping acrylic method captures a tear drop effect. I also glued the newsprint title on my painting to recall the horror and immediacy of the disaster.