So, you are an artist! Can you tell me about your background and your artistic practice?

Yes. I was born in Seoul, South Korea, and was raised in Vancouver and Toronto, Canada. I came to New York City for school, and then I completely fell in love with the city. So, I stayed.

Ever since I was able to hold a paintbrush, painting has been my natural form of expression. It really helps me process my feelings, my reality, my past, dreams, and everything that's going on around me. When I look at a painting of mine, it takes me directly back to when I created it. In a way, my paintings are more real to me than photos or dated journal entries. This is because I paint to capture my emotions, my visions and my memories, which are in many ways the truest essence of my experience. I capture magical realities that are amplified through imagination and inspired by the power of dreams.

What projects are you working on right now?

I am currently working on a series of oil paintings that explore my emotional impressions of reality by tracing ancestral memories. When I refer to ancestral memories, I’m thinking of the collective wisdom of the past, defined by key moments from cultural history that are distorted and blurred by the passage of time and yet embody universal experiences shared by many. It helps me to think about Carl Jung’s philosophy of “collective unconscious,” which he used to explain his concept of inherited traits, intuition, and universal knowledge. According to Jung, collective wisdom explains the reason that babies naturally know how to nurse without being taught, or how butterflies instinctively know their migration route.

I think a lot about the visual cultural traditions that I grew up with in Seoul, Vancouver, Toronto, and New York. I paint inspired by Korean folklore, rituals, history, fairy tales, transcultural femininity, as well as the magic of memories. I like to collect photos of historical artifacts from museums, research ritual traditions, and study visual motifs and archetypal symbols from documented history. Then, I transform the existing visual language into symbolic vessels of memories that connect me to my roots. I also like to study native plants, mythical creatures, and emblematic animals as a way to honor and renew our relationship to nature, spirits, and primal energies. I paint to understand my connection to my past and I hope to share special moments from my memories with people who share a similar collective understanding.

I also love painting mutable elements like light, fire, smoke, and water. I find beauty and comfort in knowing that there are elements out there that can easily shift shapes depending on the environment and the moment. Their flexibility and freedom is really charming to me.

Why did you choose to work with the medium that you do?

I choose to paint with oil specifically because I love the vividness of the pigments and the creamy texture. I feel like oil paints can offer me the broadest range of expressions. I love combining multiple layers of paint, and washing over surfaces with light. It does take a while for each layer to dry, but it’s not a problem. I usually like to work on about 12 paintings at the same time. I never get bored in my studio. All of my paintings end up informing each other at the end, which is fascinating for me to watch unfold. I tend to get nervous when I don’t have any empty canvases in my studio, so I always replace the finished ones with newly primed surfaces. I also love looking at paintings. It’s always been my favorite medium of art, and I’m really excited to join the conversation and participate in the artistic history and specific visual language.

Are there any imagery or symbols that you like to work with?

I've been painting Korean mythological creatures, and there are so many weird, funny, and magical creatures that I am reading and learning more about. I can't wait to create more images of them because very few imagined illustrations of them exist, and they all vary. It’s fascinating to think about how mythical creatures are manifestations of collective identity, of habits of people, and of beliefs at a certain time. So, it's really exciting to tap into my unconscious to explore my cultural narrative and to participate in the visual history of my ancestral memories.

As I mentioned, I really like working with elements that have mutable qualities, like smoke, fire, light, and water. Water can turn into mist, ice, snow, and even clouds – that is really fascinating to me, and I really love working with all these forms. I think it might be because I’ve lived close to a body of water all my life. I feel comfortable when I'm near water. It must be the exchange of energy between with the water and the moon.

I also love painting the moon because of all her phases, and because of the symbolism associated, including femininity, growth, cyclical change. The innocence, naivety, and romance of taking some time to stare at the moon are so precious. There's something about it that I want to preserve with my paintings. I want to continue performing that ritual of looking up at the moon daily by ritualistically painting her.

Is there a new medium that you would like to try, or to work in more?

I miss printmaking. Sometimes I like to work fast and get my ideas flowing quickly, and I find monotype prints great for that. I would love to work on ceramics too. I miss working with clay, which I haven’t really done in years.

What’s your favorite tool?

I have this one flat brush that I always use that I’ve had since elementary school, and I actually took great care of it so I still love how it feels on surfaces.

How do you know when you are finished with your artwork?

I just know when I’m finished. I have a feeling. When I look at it and I am happy with it, that’s it.

What is the space where do you your work?

I paint in my studio in Long Island City, New York. I get a lot of my ideas for my art from activities I do, like going on nature walks, bopping around the city, watching films, reading magical realism books, and looking at art. Quite often, I wake up from my dreams with vivid images burned into my mind. If I really like the image, I write it down, and sometimes I test the strength of the image by waiting until I wake up to see if I still remember. I make sure to paint them if the image is strong enough and if I still identify with it after a while.

What music do you listen to when you work?

It really depends on the day. I listen to many things that range from jazz, Korean R&B, electronic music, trap, or anything mixed with sparkly tunes. I actually like to have old TV shows, anime, or movies that I’ve watched before play in the background. It has be something that I’ve watched five times or more already though, so I know exactly what’s happening and I’m not distracted.

What is your favorite color?

I love magenta and turquoise. I’ve been really into shades of dark green recently, as well. I decorated my bedroom very green, and my toenails are almost always painted dark green.

Do you have any ritual that helps you get into the zone?

I don’t really have any specific ritual, but I find it easier to make art when I’m in a good mood. So I guess my ritual is to have a good night sleep and eat yummy food.

What gives you the feeling of butterflies in your stomach?

The moment when light shines on something the most perfect way… that’s when I feel the most excited. Many other things give me the feeling of butterflies too, like crystals, snow globes, flowers, jewels, kaleidoscopes, fluffy things, perfect gradients, and actual butterflies. It’s also exciting when I find artworks that I deeply connect with.

www.jeannierhyu.com | @jeannierhyu