Artist’s Statement
Fascinated with color, I have experimented with its infinite wonder and harmony, exploring visual mixing and reexamining traditional and contemporary attitudes. My artistic journey has moved through several distinct transformations, from large, metaphysical constructive forms to smaller compositions in surrealistic attitude, expanding my consciousness and refining my sense of beauty. My most recent mixed media expressions combine delicately placed bits of fabric, paint chips, and manipulated photo imagery to create transformed pieces of deep complexity.
Viewers can discern a compelling duality in my mixed media presentations. With no fewer than three unique layers in a given art piece, colorful paint chips, fabric bits, or solitary squares on my woven art pieces are individually eloquent upon close inspection. However, when these same elements are viewed from a greater distance, they can be seen to morph into solid constructions of a circle, a figure, or a recognizable image. Such duality, that transforms abstract to realistic image, challenges the viewer to reflect on the purpose of the work, pondering the relationship of subject and object, suggesting the equal importance of both.
I aim to reveal and to reinvent my evolving perception of the world. I achieve this with rhythmic repetitive touches of physically overlapping color, with hand woven images to interpret the scope of precious subjects, and with illusive airbrushing for a looking-through-a-microscope view. My resulting work asks, “How do our values influence our interpretation of art?”
What value does the viewer place on brilliant diamonds when they are seen to be just a painting? How does the viewer react when a mystic image of Elvis Presley emerges from a skewed vantage point? I am always curious to learn how viewers perceive my work and how their values may affect what they truly see.
Ji Oh