Flower Girl

Everyday life is filled with rituals: the first cup of coffee in the morning, checking personal belongings before leaving home, listening to novels while cooking, or playing a small game before going to bed. These seemingly trivial actions form the rhythm of my daily life and quietly reveal the patterns and logic of how I interact with materiality and the world.

In the exhibition Surface Rituals, I take my personal creative process as a point of departure, positioning “rituality” as a core concept and extending the discussion toward the universal and profound symbolic meanings embedded in artistic practice. The technique of layering paint and then removing it has been a long-term approach in my work. In Subcutaneous Tissue (2023), this visual language entered a new phase: by repeatedly tearing open and reconstructing layers of paint, I built the structure and depth of the image. Through the integration of formal control and visual rhythm, the sense of layering and narrative tension within the paintings was further intensified.

In this year’s new works, I further introduced elements of “addition” and “attachment.” Outside the canvas, multiple layers of paint are built up and left to dry until they reach a soft, malleable thickness. These layers are then cut and shaped into specific forms before being attached and arranged on the canvas. While these added elements originate from painting itself, they are detached from their original function and become essential components of the pictorial structure. This repetitive, patient, and meticulous process carries a strong sense of ritual for me—almost like a personal ceremony.

The compositions in this exhibition are more complex, and the scenes are imbued with stronger narrative qualities. In Crane Yoga, elongated and exaggerated human silhouettes are scattered across the canvas, their balanced yoga poses echoing the posture of cranes. Ophelia depicts an accidental domestic scene in which a household cat knocks over and damages a plaster sculpture, intertwining fragments of the broken statue with a quiet domestic atmosphere. A Botanical Garden Tour with a Crocodile Guide leads viewers into a fantastical visual adventure filled with botanical details and hidden corners. Each painting resembles a carefully staged theatrical set.

The soft decorative objects created from accumulated layers of paint function like stage props: not merely visual focal points, but key elements that shape the narrative and atmosphere of each work. This approach reminds me of the final garnish in cooking—a subtle addition that is not the main ingredient, yet enhances the overall experience and enjoyment. While enriching the visual layers of the image, these objects continuously challenge and redefine the boundary between inside and outside the painting.

In terms of color, I chose a more subdued grayscale palette, forming a clear contrast with the vibrant colors of my earlier works. The soft attached elements on the canvas, however, are deliberately rendered in bright, saturated hues, creating visual tension and playfulness. The contrast between the low-saturation background and vivid decorative elements can be seen as a response to an overstimulated world—intentionally lowering overall sensory intensity, while guiding viewers through selective bursts of color to focus on details and textures, and to experience the quiet, meticulous ritual embedded in my process.

Through Surface Rituals, I seek not only to respond to my own reflections on the ritualized nature of everyday actions, but also to invite viewers to consider the ritualistic dimensions inherent in artistic creation. Each act of layering, tearing, and attaching paint, each careful gesture, functions as a ritual that imbues meaning into the boundary between daily life and art. Within these accumulated interactions, I continue to explore the possibilities that emerge between visual language and material texture.