In my paintings the distinction between real and made-up worlds is suggestive. I am interested in creating a world that is real enough to allow its otherworldly air to take hold. I am interested in the coexistence of familiarity and irreconcilable spaces, the immediacy of the real and the postulated space. I am interested in my role as a narrator who sets up clues for the audience.
In my works, the North Korean propaganda art motif - fantastical rainbow, dramatic landscape – permeates with nostalgia. I grew up in South Korea where anti-communism sentiment wasn’t merely an ideology but an everyday existence. As a part of basic education curriculum, students were required to make anti-communism posters. As I advanced in elementary school, the posters I made became less earnest and more inventive. Gradually the images shifted from a face of crying little boy shouting “No! I don’t want red communist!” to fictional landscape. My interest in Kim Jong-Il and his dynasty as a subject matter is rooted in this era of political climate that is a reflection of my upbringing.
As a narrative structure, Kim Jong-Il and his dynasty provide instantaneous, ready-made skewed perspective and seemingly impalpable reality. The basis of the Kim dynasty is a friction between fictional and non-fictional worlds where so much of personal history is invented. My intention is to let these layers of invented world within invented world give the audience a view to a dimension beyond the present.
