I tattoo drawings on a silicone surface. My visual language is revealed through the interaction between tattooing on the manufactured surface and unplanned actions of my body. Through the movement of the needle tip and the up-and-down motion of the tattoo machine, my body's spontaneous movements are 'etched' onto surfaces made of silicone and burlap. In this process, the surface, as an inked epidermis, partially acquires properties of the body. This is my body's active journey towards becoming an image.

저는 실리콘 표면에 타투-드로잉을 새깁니다. 저의 시각언어는 표면에 타투를 새기는 행위와 제 몸의 무작위적 움직임을 통해 드러납니다. 다시 말해 문신기계에서 바늘로 이어지는 상하운동이 제작된 실리콘 표면 위에 제 몸의 움직임의 흔적을 남깁니다. 이 과정을 통해 잉크가 새겨진 일종의 “피부"로서의 실리콘 표면은 부분적으로 “몸"의 속성을 체득합니다. 이는 저의 몸이 “이미지”가 되는 일련의 적극적인 이행 작업입니다.

I define the body and the world as a form of interaction. In my practice, the body embodies itself as an inexperienced body, a body as an image, through the interaction. My newly created body is objectified as something that hasn't been experienced before, and thus, the relationship between myself (the body) and the world transitions from subject-object to an interaction between objects.

Through this process of self-objectification, I secure my subjectivity as the most expanded unit of my world, as a collective of objects, ensuring subjectivity as a whole.

저는 저의 작업에서 몸과 세계의 관계에 대해 생각합니다. 그 관계의 상호작용을 통해 저의 몸은 아직 경험되지 않은 몸, 즉 이미지로서의 몸을 구현합니다. 저의 새로운 몸은 아직 경험되지 않는 어떤 것으로서 객체화되며, 그리하여 작업이 수행됨에 따라 몸과 세계의 관계는 주체-객체의 관계에서 객체-객체 관계로 변화합니다. 이러한 자기-객관화의 과정에서 저는 객체들의 집합체이자 가장 확장된 형태의 나인 “세계”로서의 주체성을 확보합니다.

In my work from 2022 to 2023, I repeatedly engaged in intuitive observation and recalling processes, layering multiple drawings on a silicone surface. The random movements of my body, along with the interaction of a tattoo machine and the silicone surface, created meaningless marks that, through my observation, gained coherence as specific events, figures, or animalistic images. Throughout this process, I overlaid various images of memories in a still uncertain state, leaving their potential for reenactment open through controlled depiction.

2022년-2023년도 작업에서 저는 실리콘 표면에 여러겹의 타투-드로잉 레이어를 겹쳐가며 회상과 직관적인 관찰 작업을 반복적으로 수행하였습니다. 문신기계와 바늘, 그리고 몸의 무계획적인 움직임의 상호작용을 통해 실리콘 표면 위에 새겨진 흔적들은 무의미합니다. 그러나 저의 직관적 관찰은 그 무의미한 흔적들을 어떤 특정한 사건, 인물, 동물적 모티프 등과 관련한 이미지로 발전시킵니다. 그들은 모두 나의 기억으로서 여전히 흐릿한 형태로 통제된 묘사를 통해 그 재현적 가능성을 드러냅니다.

The Flesh is Limited

My project is an installation of 6 painting/drawing objects which I call <The Flesh is Limited>.

I consider the three-dimensional objects as independent bodies, but they interweave with each other in the materiality and content, creating one large allegory.

I call them “objects” because each material and the resulting marks support each other in diverse ways to build a stereoscopic world in my practice; I seek to represent this world as a physical object. Each layer is formed independently based on different memories and emotions, but all are connected as representations of consistent visual language. The image is generated by action drawing perceived by me as a certain shape through my memories, emotions, and intuition. Through these objects, I build my own world. My memories are temporarily represented, following the flow of the marks shown through the random drawings and then moved on to the next memory, and this process continues until I am finished with the object.

During the process, I use silicone, sometimes as a ground medium of the object, sometimes to put an extra layer to divide the color fields. I primarily use colors of the Rebound 25 and 40 Silicone which are orange and jade. By adding the ground made of a mixture of transparent silicone gel and turquoise, graphite, cobalt blue acrylic pigment, I add the possibility of developing the narrative further.

The silicone mediums I use function as a skin on which I tattoo in my practice. When the silicone is used as an additional layer, it overlaps and communicates with previous layers of painting, drawing, and relief, which are the cornerstone of the object. After I create the painting, drawing, relief on the canvas, wood panel, or burlap, I use the tattoo machine. The up-and-down movement of the needle in the machine makes numerous dots on the silicon skin, and an image that I create with them is constructed through my memories and intuition.

The recollections that arise from the object inspire me to contemplate a utopian vision. By melding my imagination with past memories, I create the images that I incorporate into my three-dimensional objects. Building these pieces serves as a method for me to translate my memories and imagination into a visual language that unites each object as a cohesive body of work.

In summary, my proposal is to make 6 objects created by my own visual vocabulary through a performative drawing practice using the following mediums: silicone, burlap, acrylic and tattoo instruments, and my memories, emotions, and intuition give rise to an object that feels like an extension of my own flesh. These objects are imprints of a combination of my past memories combined with my imagination.