The series ‘Made in Korea’ begins from the question that Korea might be influenced by China, Japan and the USA.
Korea had been influenced by China until the 19th century; at the beginning of the 20th century, Korea was colonized by Japan for 36 years, and after the division into north and south, North Korea is still somewhat shaped by China, while South Korea is under the influence of the USA.
This prompted me to think objectively about my country, Korea, and it provoked a crucial question: ‘What is the Korean experience?’
This question in turn raises doubts about the things that are called 'traditional' and the origins of commonly used words.
After all, I represent the opinion that the Korean experience would be a mixture of American, Chinese and Japanese influences, based on the historical and objective facts of Korea expressed by my artworks.
There are only three countries’ images or icons in the art pieces instead of Korea’s. However it represents Korean experience paradoxically by naming ‘Made in Korea’ as the series title.
This is like the situation of my family in 2011. My family are absolutely Koreans, but there were not in South Korea at all. My parents have been in Shanghai, China. My little brother was in Japan (now in the USA), and I was in London, the UK.
I thought that this ironic situation would be the reason of the paradoxical expression in my artworks.
There is an animation character (Rei of Neon Genesis Evangelion) as one of the Japanese representative images in ‘Rei in Shanghai with Fifty Stars’ as the first artwork of this series. Also, it can be seen that there is the Bund in Shanghai, as the main city of the Chinese economic system, and fifty stars that symbolize fifty states of the USA. And these are mixed and then make a mysterious and new image. It might be the new Korean image and this is what I want to present through this series.
The skyline of the Bund would be made by the influences of the architecture of various countries. This has been their unique skyline, and one of the representative images that symbolize China and Shanghai at the moment. Then, this has affected the series ‘Made in Korea’ again. Besides, the USA that influences Korea consists of countless immigrants, and they influence and are influenced by each other.
As the name, ‘United States of America’ suggests, the USA is what it is, that is the USA itself. This point provides the direction of the right way to move with this series in the future.
There is a saying, ‘there is nothing new under the sun’. But I have thought that the mixture arising through the confluence of existing influences might be the new definition of ‘something new’ in the postmodern age.
In conclusion, to find my new experiences in the artworks through these processes of the consideration would be the ultimate aim as an artist.