Personal Statement

My background is in oriental painting. I’ve been painting for more than ten years, and I really love to paint. But just after getting my BFA in Korea, I wanted to expand my abilities and broaden my eyes, so I applied to ITP.
Because I used to do my work in an analog way with brushes, paint: paper, and barely used a computer before ITP, I first focused on learning new digital tools. When I started, I was just amazing to learn a new technology. But as I acclimated myself to ITP, I felt that something was missing. My work at ITP is surprising and fun for people. It grabs viewers’ attention for a few minutes, but doesn’t convey deep emotion and feeling. It’s just the opposite from what I’ve done before. My painting is not as so much fun as the work I do at ITP, but people who see my paintings came to me and talked about what they felt.
At fine art exhibitions, I usually stand in front of the art work and try to understand or feel what it’s saying to me. In this way, I became more actively involved with the art work, and try to have a conversation at it. But at digital art exhibitions, much of the new media and digital art work leaves me passive. Although these works are designed for interaction and ease of use, they leave no time or space for reaching deep insights and emotion, just like TV entertainment shows. This was a huge experience for me.
I think there are a few media artists who solve this problem successfully, such as Gary Hill and Bill Viola. To stand in the same line with them, I wish this project would be one big step toward them.