Features, Recognition, and Recommendations

Q1: Can you tell us a little about your background and how you first discovered your love for art?

I was born in Seoul, South Korea. I’ve been drawing extensively since I was young, and I still enjoy outdoor sketching and croquis anytime, anywhere. After years of practice, I’ve often been praised for the power of my brushstrokes and fine art pencil drawings. My father, Il-Sun Jung, created murals abroad. During my teenage years, I received instruction in drawing, watercolor, portraiture, and oil painting from my father. I often studied and analyzed the works of renowned artists from around the world with my father. I was particularly drawn to Vincent Van Gogh’s ‘Sunflower’ paintings, which exuded powerful, vibrant brushstrokes, leading me into the world of creativity. I had decided to become a Western painter, so I aimed to enter the painting department during my college entrance exams. I majored in painting on a scholarship at Hyosung Catholic University and received a BFA. I won awards at the Korea Art Competition and the Mok woo hoe and became a member of the Korea Art Festival, where I participated in a group exhibition at the Saeh-jong Cultural Hall Gallery. I insisted on studying abroad in the United States to learn about contemporary art through free-form creativity.

Q2: Your paintings blend many styles — abstract, pop art, hyperrealism, and more. How do you decide which elements to combine in a piece?

There are key points in my paintings. First, I created the Angel Puzzle design. Second, the reason my paintings are so colorful is because they combine the intense heavenly sunlight of Texas with the vibrant colors of fairytale European houses. Third, I combine still life and landscape painting, sometimes expressing static objects dynamically, and sometimes depicting dynamic creatures in still form. Fourth, if you look at Western art history, you’ll see that each era has its own trends. I’ve brought together the diverse artistic techniques attempted by various artists onto a single canvas.

My goal is to create a new genre of art by blending various painting techniques on a single canvas. I strive to smooth out the disparate styles and allow their individuality to blend and coexist.

Q3: Water drops, angels and flowers often appear in your work. What do these symbols mean to you personally?

Every time I paint water droplets, I think of my youngest son, Daniel. On September 11, 2001, when Daniel was in kindergarten, he was in the intensive care unit. After visiting the Children’s Science Museum, he suddenly could not eat, speak or walk and was bedridden. Through Daniel, who has mild autism, I was introduced to the world of special needs. Daniel lives in his own world within the water droplets, and sees the world only through his own eyes.

My youngest son has loved making snow angels since he was little. Even now, whenever it snows, he runs out and makes snow angels again and again. I modified the snow angel and created a new ‘angel puzzle design’. The angel puzzle in the work brings warmth to the hearts of lonely people with the love of Jesus. Angel Puzzle is a healer who seeks out those in difficult situations and heals them with the love of Jesus.

Numerous flowers represent the crowd living in the digital society. A big flower is a marginalized person in modern society. The flying angel piece gives hope to those who are struggling and lonely.

Q4: When starting a new piece, do you plan the story in advance, or does it develop as you paint?

Whenever I travel, I’m always inspired by encountering new things. Then, I imprint the iconic landmarks of the area on my memory. I also glimpse the joys and sorrows of life through the daily lives of locals. As I immerse myself in these emotions, they accumulate in my memory bank. And then, every time I paint, I pull out the pieces of those memories one by one and put them back into place, like a puzzle. This creative process is a unique, personal catharsis, a moment of healing, and a very exciting and rewarding experience for me.

Even when I paint, when inspiration strikes, I first sketch out the overall outline of the concept in my head. After establishing the outline of the subject, I sketch several times to establish a stable composition.

Q5: What message or feeling do you hope people take away when they see your work?

Each Angel Puzzle contains traces of my life’s journey. I paint, write my life diary and become completely absorbed in my paintings. In the peace they bring, I continue to paint at my easel.

We must gather all the Angel Puzzle pieces, each containing souls who have overcome hardship and adversity and been reborn with a positive outlook, and create a patchwork quilt of life’s milestones, each containing our own story. The message my paintings convey is a shortcut to awakening and being reborn as a mature person who sees far ahead with a broader perspective.

On this path, the only echo is the cry that the Angel Puzzle, filled with Jesus’ love, serves as a tool for finding peace of mind through true healing.