3-A Gallery, CICA Museum
May 18-22, 2022
2022.05.18-22
Rice, Paper, Scissors
I make paper recreations of objects to better understand what we find important and why. Objects go from being simply a thing we interact with as utility to a thing that embodies a philosophy and culture. My current body of work focuses on objects I remember fondly, and objects I rediscover from old family photographs. The sculptures are small, fragile, and ghostly. I parallel my work process to an archeological dig, instead of unearthing broken fragments I recreate shadows of forgotten objects.
The sculptures are made using a method of templating and patterning. Paper models are made to replicate something visually, reducing it to a manageable size, while also restricting the level of accuracy by being made of paper. The characteristics of paper emphasizes the replicated-ness of the realized object. I am interested in this preservation that deconstructs the original.
The ‘evidence of hand,’ such as repeatedly drawn lines and hand rolled clay rice, embodies a 정성 (sincerity or devotion). The careful and repetitive handcrafted process used to make the sculptures is a ritual of labor and time meant to carry the viewer beyond the immediate object to a thoughtful connecting point. These sculptures are silent radar pings waiting to receive viewers’ recognitions and projections, while they are a poetic exercise attempting to locate my lived Korean American perspective.
