Artist’s note - Junsik Kim

It’s mysterious and at time even beautiful to see two elements of disparate qualities harmonize in one place. Thus for me, it’s fascinating to call forth together what’s traditional and contemporary, Eastern and Western, flat 3-dimensional, animation and real images.

 

Are East and West becoming one? Or is East becoming westernized? We (Asians) now wear Western clothes, have Western-style weddings, live in Western-style house, and meditate upon paintings by people from the East in Western art studios.

 

Will there ever come a day when a Westerner wears Asian clothes, prefer Asian-style weddings, build and live in traditional houses that harmonize with nature, and meditate upon watercolor paintings by people from the West?

 

I discovered a very simple structure while I was researching the history ot Realism in Western painting. I became fascinated with the process of observing 3-dimensional object of actual representation, portraying it on a 2-dimensional canvas, and employing various means, such as perspective, shading, composition, color, etc, to portray it as something that feels 3-dimensional. And this has a completely different sense of directivity from Eastern paintings. However, with advancement of photography and printing technology, Realist painting seems to have made a mistake in its direction to something similar to photography. The history of Realist painting has made a momentary pause due to photography.

 

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Artist’s note - Haksul Lee

I have always been drawn to certain forms appearing in both figures and botanical forms. These forms have become simplified and have repeatedly appeared as dominant elements in my work. Surrealistic concerns such as defying gravity with unusual ways of hanging and balancing, integrating different materials such as metal and canvas, and expressing illusions through physical characteristics of the pieces became central to my art. Frequently, an essential form is placed at the center of the piece as an activator and as a starting point. The relationship of the form to its compositional context defines the kind of sensations generated.