I was born in Seoul in 1979. The place where I was born was the capital for 500 years during the Joseon Dynasty. It was a quiet and quaint village nestled on a mountain with high rocky cliffs and castle walls visible. In the mid-mountain, you could see a temple. Since I was young, I enjoyed contemplating nature and was a very poetic and curious child. I possess an introverted nature that loves researching and immersing myself in things.

 

In Korea, the education system is very rote-learning oriented, so I could only find satisfaction in observing things and drawing them from my perspective. We weren't wealthy, but my parents sent me to an art academy to support my passion for drawing, and they were willing to invest in sending me to college. In college, I began using oil paint in earnest. I honed my skills in various techniques almost entirely through self-study and successfully became proficient in painting with brushes.

 

What influenced me was the unfinished works of others and messy studios during my school days. For some reason, I feel like I exchanged inspiration with Dostoevsky's novels that I was reading at the time through those aspects. I was able to immerse myself in painting by believing that there was more than meets the eye between me, the space, and the objects.

 

I also tried to incorporate the sudden and dynamic changes in the composition methods of 20th-century composers Messiaen and Schoenberg into my paintings. At one point, inspired by the intense flow and rhythm of their compositions, I happened to see the paintings of Abstract Expressionist Joan Mitchell and continued to evolve. I was influenced by the synthesis and decorative elements in Matisse's paintings and wanted to pursue both the seriousness of looking at the world critically and the lightness of moving forward in struggle.