9

Oreo Box, oil on canvas

Arranged Oreos, oil on canvas

Oreo, conte crayon on paper

Praying Stone Towers (during her trip to Korea 2006)

Soojin

Soojin Kim is a Korean artist from Boston. She originally came to the States to study electrical engineering, then eventually changed her pursuit to painting and finished her degree at the School of Museum of Fine Art. Her paintings of American candies and cookies reflect her father's obsession with them. He was a young boy during the Korean War, and he would stay around American soldiers who would give him candies and cookies. As if she is stacking praying stones, Soojin stacks these cookies and paints them in remembrance of her father who passed away few years ago . She says her art making is also actualizing her father's dream, who once wanted to become a painter.

You can view more images of her work at http://www.soojinkim.net.


. . .
 
Last night, Soojin, Ting, and I sat in our dining room, just talking for hours. We talked about... artists we love, paintings we abhor, authenticity of art making, our parents, origin of our language, dynamics and history of Asia, conspiracies, our own assumptions about governments and politics, money, Tibet, colors...

Things Soojin shared with me were incredibly valuable. She had so much more knowledge of Korean history and culture... I realized how some of my understanding of Korea as a Korean-American (I came to the States at 13) are somewhat distorted and almost fantasized. I was astounded when she told me our Korean language originated from Altaic people. People who lived in Alti Mountains (central Asia) either migrated towards Europe (Turks) or the Korean Peninsula / the island of Japan. So we can find much common language structure with Turks and Mongolians. http://www.krysstal.com/langfams_altaic.html.

Soojin left the residency this morning. I am very honored that I was able to meet her.