PLYS FOR PURPOSE
MAY 2019 // PROVE GALLERY
DULUTH, MN
“ 30 local and international artists all with one goal - using art as a vehicle to build public skateparks. Join us in our effects to raise money for the Gary New Duluth skatepark initiative” Prove Gallery.
Plys For Purpose is a semi annual event hosted by the Prove Gallery located in downtown Duluth, MN. Each board is auctioned for the public to place a price to be eligable to win a custom made board.
WAKING PERIOD
DECEMBER 2021 // TWEED MUSEUM
DULUTH, MN
The Immigration Act of 1965 removed the discrimination of gender, race, nationality, and other factors in the government’s decision to provide immigrants visas. After those restrictions were removed, my family eventually moved from South Korea to America “The Melting Pot” in 1972. They became citizens, but were not treated as such because of their physical identity. “Identity is regarded as a cultural and historical product of constant negotiation processes influenced by specific social and cultural contexts” Euichanl Jung. Living in America is a battle of culture, stereotype, and identity. I have resonated with being a minority because this is how the world sees me. I am white and Korean, but I cannot be either. What happens to the identity of self if the mind is colonized by the dominant culture?
*see bottom for detailed descriptions of each piece*
Why I make art begins with the exploration of identity politics within the United States society. Acrylic paint, photoshop, and the use of a projector are used to relay the information I learn onto the canvas. In photoshop, the use of layering symbols, grids, and ancestral imagery is a successful way to reconnect with what I learned and am learning. With inverting images comes with the definition of negativity. Choosing to use negative coloring brings distortion making it at first, difficult to understand. It’s foreign to us. Using the technique of layering and inversion to display information entices the mind to deconstruct the imagery. As I research for answers, I use painting to connect the information I discover onto the viewer.
Moving to Baltimore
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x36”
Grandma, Sister, and Mother at home in Korea // Baltimore Postcard
Educated
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x48”
Grandpa smoking a cigarette // signatures from his korean air force yearbook
Waking Period
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x54”
Self-portrait at school
Land of the Free
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x36”
My dad and his family with a cousin in Korea // United States Propaganda
Familiarity
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x48”
My dad, grandma, and aunt at their favorite restaurant in Korea // The country animal symbolism
Hollywood
Acrylic on Canvas
60”x36”
My dad, grandma, and aunt at a stadium in Korea // Representation of racial imagery of the Asian American community
