Skyscape (2010–2014) employs acrylic painting on digital pigment print to present landscape scenes created by my scanned black-and-white fingerprints and floating airplanes painted photorealistically on top of the print. The fingerprints echo the styles and practices of Korean traditional ink painting called sumukhwa. Sumukhwa uses brush lines, textures, and shading by varying the ink density on mulberry paper. One of the main techniques of sumukhwa is gong-pil, meaning meticulous brush craftsmanship. The gong-pil technique uses highly detailed brushstrokes and very thin ink layers to depict narrative objects. I adapted the techniques of ink concentrations and gong-pil to give the works a meditative quality of brushwork and elaborate depictions. While my methods of expression reflect my Korean sensibility the conceptual content of these works intentionally speaks to and for a wider audience.
Skyscape, acrylic on pigment print, 40″x36″, 2014
Skyscape, acrylic on pigment print, 40″x36″, 2014
Skyscape, acrylic on pigment print, 40″x36″, 2014
Skyscape, acrylic on pigment print, 54″x44″, 2011
Skyscape #1, acrylic on pigment print, each 17″ x 22″, total 4 pieces, 2011
Skyscape, acrylic on pigment print, 36″x44″, 2011
Installation view at the Art Museum of University of Colorado-Boulder, 2011