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Swimming pools are the main subject of my Safe Zone series, the majority of which I produced over the last three years. Swimming pools are interesting and fascinating spaces for me as they give me huge comfort and solitude at the same time. I feel separated from a busy and chaotic world when I swim, and can fully concentrate on myself, physically and psychologically. Initially, I considered the idea of a swimming pool as a utopia; to me, it is a dream- or paradise-like place where I would like to be all the time. However, a swimming pool could be more appropriately considered a heterotopia than a utopia, as it exists in reality. 




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Caption
201605    
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201608
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201609
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201610
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201611
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201614
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
2016
201615
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2016
201616
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2016
201618
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 250 cm
2016
201702
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2017
201801
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2018
201803
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
2018
201804
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 250 cm
2018
201811
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 170 cm
2018
201812
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 170 cm
2018
201901
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
41 x 53 cm
2019
201902
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache 
80.3 x 116.8 cm
2019
201903
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
72.7 x 53cm
2019
201904
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201905
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
53 x 72.7 cm
2019
201906
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
41 x 53 cm
2019
201907
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
41 x 53 cm
2019
201908
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201909
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201910
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
60.6 x 72.7 cm
2019
201911
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
112 x 160.2 cm
2019
201912
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
112 x 160.2 cm
2019
201913
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
60.6 x 72.7 cm
2019
201914
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
53 x 72.7 cm
2019
201915
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
60.6 x 72.7 cm
2019
201916
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
53 x 72.7 cm
2019
201917
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
53 x 72.7 cm
2019
201918
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201919
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201920
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201921
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201922
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201923
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201924
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201925
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
53 x 72.7 cm
2019
201928
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201929
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
112 x 194 cm
2019
201930
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic and gouache
130.3 x 162.2 cm
2019
202016
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on linen
45.5 x 53 cm
2020
202017
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on linen
60.6 x 72.7 cm
2020
202018
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
112 x 160.2 cm
2020
202019
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on linen
45.5 x 53 cm
2020



This is the paradox of the safe zone: that we can never feel safe. My initial plan was to show a safe space that does not exist, but it was shown instead as an unsafe space that does seem to exist. I used the image of a real swimming pool that I often visit near my house. This swimming pool has glass walls that people can look through from outside. I found it interesting that the glass walls might allow parents to see their children swimming and make sure they are safe; however, being watched made me feel very uncomfortable and a little unsafe. There is a kind of voyeurism in this painting and perhaps in the other paintings too. I really wanted to use this image, combined with some plants standing as if watching or witnessing the scene.




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Caption
201201
A Corner 1
Acrylic & oil on canvas
80 x 80 cm
2012
201202
A Corner 2
Acrylic & oil on canvas
80 x 80 cm
2012
201203
A Corner 3
Acrylic & oil on canvas
80 x 80 cm
2012
201110
1704 toys
Oil on canvas
130 x 162 cm
2009-11
201301
Study of safezone - pools
Water colour on paper
30 x 23 cm each
2013
201302
A Safe Zone 1
Acrylic on canvas
165 x 165 cm
2013
201303
A Safe Zone 2
Acrylic on canvas
165 x 165 cm
2013
201501
A Safe Zone - mirror
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 25.5 cm
2015
201502
A Pier
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 25.5 cm
2015
201503
A Safe Zone - corner
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2015
201504
A Safe Zone - sea view
Acrylic on canvas
50 x 60 cm
2015
201505
A Safe Zone - paradise
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2015
201506
A Safe Zone - runway
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2015
201507
A Plant behind the fish tank
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2015
201508
Paintings on the Wall
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 100 cm
2015
201509
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2015
201510
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2015
201511
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2015
201512
A Sofa in the corner
Acrylic on canvas
61 x 91 cm
2015
201607
A Safe Zone -corner
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2016
201617
A Safe Zone -nowhere
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 95 cm
2016
201613
A Safe Zone 3
Acrylic on canvas
165 x 165 cm
2016
201810
Botanical Garden in the City
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 95 cm each
2018



Having to move my studio three times within a year due to redevelopment, and walking past a construction site every day, I was inspired to consider gentrification as a utopia of modern society. I developed images of construction sites and combined them with images of paradise-like places where people are making their dream homes. Construction sites are simultaneously real and unreal; despite their ubiquity and familiarity, their constant state of transition can evoke feelings of unease and chaos.
        Gentrification and the construction of new homes can allow people to realise their dream houses and try to make their locality more pleasant, improving old towns, reducing crime, and constructing a brand new urban space. As promising as this sounds, the construction process has negative as well as positive effects, such as disturbance, pollution, displacement through rent or price increases, and anxiety about unsustainable property prices and loss of homes.




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Caption
201606
A New Old City
Acrylic on canvas
72 x 53 cm
2016
201612   
A New Old City
Acrylic on canvas
72 x 53 cm
2016
201704
A Real World, Toyworld
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
2017
201705
A Bright Future
Acrylic on canvas
130 x 80 cm
2017
201706
Pink Future
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 130 cm
2017
201707
A Tiny Hope
Acrylic on canvas
160 x 95 cm
2017
201708
A Bright Future Is on its way 1
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2017
201709
A Skip
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
2017
201710
A Skip
Installation
140 x 110 x 90 cm
2017
201712
Haze 1-2
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201712
Haze 1
Mixed m on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201713
A Bright Future is on its Way 2
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201714
A Bright Future
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201715
Haze 2
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201716
A Bright Future is on its Way 3
Acrylic on canvas
40 x 30.5 cm
2017
201717
Haze 3
Acrylic on canvas
30.5 x 40 cm
2017
201718
Dead End
Acrylic on linen
40 x 30.5 cm
2017
201802
A New Home for Sale
Acrylic on canvas
60 x 90 cm
2018
201805
A Bright Future is on its way 5
Acrylic on canvas
80 x 130 cm
2018
201806
Pink Future 2
Acrylic on canvas
200 x 100 cm
2018
201807
A Bright Future
Acrylic on linen
200 x 100 cm
2018
201808
A New City View
Acrylic on S. fibres
95 x 160 cm
2018
201809
A Christmas Tree after Christmas
Acrylic on canvas
100 x 100 cm
2018
201813
A Pink Future is on its Way
Acrylic and c. pencil
30.5 x 40 cm
2018
201926
Temporary paradise
Acrylic on linen
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201927
Temporary paradise
Acrylic on linen
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
201934
Temporary paradise-tempelhof 1
Acrylic on canvas
45.5 x 53 cm
2019
201935
Temporary paradise-tempelhof 2
Acrylic and gouache
40.9 x 53 cm
2019
202002
Temporary paradise
Acrylic on linen
80.3 x 116.8 cm
2020
202003
Temporary paradise
Acrylic on linen
80.3 x 116.8 cm
2020
202004
Temporary paradise
Acrylic on linen
72.2 x 60.6 cm
2020
202005
Yeonhui 1
Acrylic on linen
91 x 116.8 cm
2020
202006
Yeonhui 2
Acrylic on canvas
193.9 x 112.1 cm
2020
202007
Yeonnam 1
Acrylic on canvas
193.9 x 130.3 cm
2020
202008
Yeonnam 2
Acrylic on linen
116.8 x 80.3cm
2020
202009
Yeonhui 3
Acrylic on linen
116.8 x 91 cm
2020
202010
Yeonnam 3
Acrylic on canvas
45.5 x 53 cm
2020
202011
Yeonnam 4
Acrylic on canvas
53 x 45.5 cm
2020
202012
Yeonhui 4
Acrylic on canvas
40.9 x 53 cm
2020
202013
Yeonnam 5
Acrylic on canvas
40.9 x 53 cm
2020
202014
Yeonhui 5
Acrylic on canvas
31.8 x 40.9 cm
2020
202015
Yeonnam 6
Acrylic on canvas
27.3 x 40.9 cm
2020



I am from an island called Jeju in South Korea. My family lived there until I was 20. It is a peaceful and tranquil place. When I moved to Seoul to attend University I was amazed by the skyscrapers and the number of people. After arriving in Seoul I started drawing from memory detailed maps of places where I grew up. I spread huge sheets of paper on the floor to draw my little town, then I cut my drawings into large pieces and reconstructed them to make a new town, which does not exist in reality. My goal was not an accurate representation of my hometown, but an exploration of memory, with all its flaws and distortions. While we may not memorise an exact map of our hometowns, we know our way around. We know the route to our friends’ houses, to our workplaces, to the shops we like and the places that are important to us. We all create unique individual maps from our personal perspectives and life stories, a subjective perception of reality that may bear little relation to the world as it actually is.




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Caption
200601
Hometown
Mixed m on canvas
162.2 x 130.3 cm
2006
200701
Hometown
Mixed m on canvas
162.2 x 130.3 cm
2007
200801
A Contructed Village
Pen on canvas
112.1 x 162.2 cm
2008
200802
Reconstructed City
Mixed m on canvas
130.3 x 162.2 cm
2008
200901
Full Village
Pen on canvas
45 x 45 cm
2009
200902
A View of Sangam Area
Mixed m on canvas
112.1 x 162.2 cm
2009
200903
A View of Uijeongbu Area
Mixed m on canvas
130.3 x 162.2 cm
2009
200904
A Funfair in the City
Mixed m on canvas
165 x 165 cm
2009
200905
A Map
Mixed m on canvas
210 x 292 cm
2009
200906
A Constructed City
Mixed m on canvas
45.5 x 53 cm
2009
200907
The View of Surroundings
Pen on canvas
53 x 65.1 cm
2009
201101
Circle
Mixed m on canvas
20 x 20 cm
2011
201102
Square
Mixed m on canvas
35 x 35 cm
2011
201103
Seoul
Mixed m on canvas
45 x 45 cm
2011
201104
London 1
Mixed m on canvas
50 x 50 cm
2011
201106
City
Mixed m on canvas
90 x 90 cm
2011