Artist Statement
In my early works, I examine grotesqueness, rooted in my desires. It comes out of suppressed desires and fetish-like obsessions with ugliness that typically do not surface in my everyday life. Not only as an expression of my suppressed desires, I endeavor to engage the concept of ugliness within a social context.
First of all, I investigate the process of applying political discourse to particular human being's organs, considered as inferior things. The face in my artwork symbolizes something positive, official and of male authority, as it represents individual identity and dignity, while the anus, female genital, and backside of the bodies have negative meanings, as they are regarded as private and vulgar organs. With such symbolizations in mind, I rediscover in my work the fragments of such negative, decadent organs and then reassemble them in a new form whose outlines draw inspirations from feminine qualities of flexibility, mushiness, and fluidity. Further, I explore aesthetic values through the creation of neutered, androgynous bodies which have been considered an anomaly as they are excluded from dichotomous gender construction.
In addition, I have since become interested in feminist theory, and it helped me examine a way to approach art materials in terms of structuralist perspectives, so I am starting to investigate cultural, political and social content within each of my art materials, combining them to create unconventional contexts, breaking down cultural hierarchies.
The lectangle shape of canvas frames—their verticality and inflexibility—symbolize masculinity in art history. Domestic supplies and ornamental materials signify problematic conceptualizations of femininity and inferiority, as they are regarded as mere raw materials in everyday, mundane life. I attempt to overwhelm the canvas frame with these materials in order to subvert patriarchal structures.
In particular, I mostly apply lace, beads, and threads and blankets to the stretcher bars. The laces cover the frame which substitutes for canvas fabrics, and other ornamental materials are added over top of the manipulated laces and blankets in order to describe detailed depiction. I attempt to intensify feminine values through accumulation of all of these materials. My work is like a manifesto, offering me opportunities to examine the way I would like reimagine female preference and taste which challenges androcentric cultural contexts in art history.
I use cleaning supplies on the canvas which represent female household labor that has been considered trivial and insignificant to life. I try to assemble garbage bags, mops and cleaning sponges on the stretcher bars, which I manipulate outside of the rectangular shape. I apply acrylic paint on the background in order to visually emphasize deviation from tradition.
At the same time, every single component of supplies contributes to the abstract composition on the canvas, so it is significant to see the moment of transition from mundane object to visual language. Through those processes, I attempt to break down the boundaries between household labor and artistic activity.
In addition, I investigate feminine grotesqueness, as I portray deformed female bodies through abstract expression. Involvement of laces and needle works depict feminine grotesqueness and functions as a balance between the notion of beauty and ugliness, so it helps the artifact still maintain aesthetic values. The backside of objects signifies private and hidden places in the context of social stereotypes of femininity. Therefore, I attempt to construct combination of domestic supplies on the backside of canvas, in order to reinforce the creation of feminine languages on the canvas.
Clear distinctions between beauty and ugliness as well as superiority and inferiority are formed with dominant cultural discourse. Through reflection, unexpected materials function as a rejoinder, a feminine beauty which has been excluded from taste in mainstream culture.