My works are images of night seas of the East Sea in mid-winter. Rather than reproducing nature as it is, it captures the continuity of wave motion and puts a variety of colors on it to create an image of an unfamiliar and awkward sea. Each color expresses the feelings of anxiety arising from internal redemption and reveals my desire to escape from it.

Alpha (α) means the first. An alpha girl is daring and challenging. She loves herself, enjoys life, and won't tolerate unfairness and may reflect the desires of all women. The alpha girl in my work is provocative and confident like a fashion model in a magazine. Intensive feelings of an image catch people's eyes like a ray of love, like the moment when unconscious feelings arise in mind. Neither facts nor fiction, but a kind of unconsciousness is the source of my work. Based on my experience as a fashion designer, I express the human body using techniques of fashion illustrations transformed into a painting. So my work may have a simple yet elegant form resembling the brush strokes in oriental paintings. The long neck and the curvaceous body of the alpha girl in my work express the desires latent in humans.

Welcome to my Summertime Collection 2020!

I paint urban plants by combining dissimilar elements of oriental ink and colors. I like to present decorative plants that were ‘unnaturally’ introduced in urban spaces and often survive due to their resilience. Perhaps when people disappear, plants will continue to grow. Yet, the fate of a wide variety of plants in small red plastic pots that densely populate shelves is controlled by someone. This inspires me to ruminate on our urban existence. Flowerpots in the garden are not different from us who live in city apartments. Although the plants cannot grow as freely as in their natural habitats, they adapt to the urban environments. Like us (city dwellers), plants survive by adjusting to the city although being controlled by people. In my work, I pose the question of how can we bring back nature in our lives? This is the city dwellers' plaintive yearning and compassion for nature.

Dreaming of fantasy and travel, I illustrate our stories of daily life in the city. This exhibition presents illustrations from my picture books 'Invitation to the Universe in My Heart' and 'A Holiday', and some personal works about nature.

The pursuit of a simple life and getting “back to basics” is nothing new, but this perception and attitude are becoming more important in the hustle and bustle of modern life. More and more people are taking a step back away from modern technology and the digital world looking to get reconnected with mother nature. Through my paintings, I reconnect myself with pure nature. What makes nature so pure and yet elegant? Perhaps it's because nature has no agenda, I reckon. Nature is pure and original. With this perspective, I grasp what I see in my mind. I don't need to go beyond myself to depict nature as it is. Nature’s innocence comes to my mind with various images and colours. Often they are flowers, trees, grass, animals or just primitive symbols. Trying not to be ruled by the superficial reality of objects, I just catch them through drawings and paintings as if I were an innocent child who simply has no agenda. With this approach, I tend to be able to express my inspirations in more various and random ways. Simplicity and variety balance each other, just like nature does. I hope my paintings can help people to appreciate living in harmony with nature and to recall a time of innocence and purity.