"I grew up in Korea and came to America eight yearsago. In Korea, Western culture and its mythic, explosive painters fascinated me. I loved their freedom and boldness, which seemed so hard to attain in Korea where there were large barriers to women outside of traditional roles. I came to America thinking I could be whomever I wanted, but soon found I wasn't sure exactly who that was. My paintings deal with that uncertainty and confusion, which show up visually as contradictions and create energy.

My energy comes from exploring contradictions such as image and gesture, chaos and system, and the difference between painterly and design. I use big, expressionistic brushstrokes to create a sense of chaos and then add smaller Korean patterns and landscape imagery. While these smaller elements may seem to add to the chaos, they actually provide structure as they construct connections and movement through the work.

I also enjoy the painterly traditions that resonate strongly in the American public's perception of art, but feel tied to the design aspect of Eastern painting. Rather than synthesize the two cultures in the gesture, however, I look at how they function side by side. 

The energy comes from the difference between self-exploration in expressionist terms and the design that fills a consumer culture work, where individuals project onto the empty design objects of mass culture. I combine the design's passiveness and expressionism's forcefulness so that viewers can move in and out; they can bring something themselves but are still confronted by my experiences.

The energy I expend trying to find myself is translated in my work, through expanding my experiences and searching for my place in them. Disparate elements in my work explore how different cultural and visual experiences play off each other and work together to create energy. Searching for identity and layering new experiences onto my work moves it forward, and at some point may lead to some kind of resolution. Right now, however, I am thoroughly enjoying the journey."

Ju-Yeon Kim, 2004

OTHER EXHIBITIONS

Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
90" x 90"

Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
90" x 90"

Untitled
Mixed media on canvas
90" x 90"

small works between 6" and 7".