Things Which Can Be Seen Only If You Should Stop

This thesis aims to provide a context in which to situate my interdisciplinary art practice concerned with painting that addresses architecture. The paper explores my childhood memory of space and contemplation as themes that are essential in shaping my art practice as a whole, but also as my way of relating to art, nature, and the built environments such as parks and gardens. By reflecting on and conflating historical, cultural and philosophical contexts from a Western and Asian perspective, I will investigate how my work has been transformed through my personal journey from Korea to Canada, and how my practice can be situated at the intersection between art and architecture and the space between the real and surreal. Chapter one will examine my childhood memory of looking at a little bonsai pot in my family garden, the catalyst to create my own art work amidst the realization of what I will refer to here as an “innerscape”. In this section, I will also introduce four predominant motifs in my artwork triggered by this childhood experience: Imagination, Space, Scale and Nature. In the following chapters, I will investigate these four themes by mirroring each in a relevant series of works: Water Series, City Series, Inventory of Architectural Forms and Pebble Series. The critical works Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard and Space and Place by Yi-Fu Tuan will provide underpinning theories as a bridge to connect these chapters together. The final chapter, “Things Which Can Be Seen Only If You Should Stop” will reflect on my experience of co-existing between eastern and western culture. In addition, it will discuss my research, aesthetic sensibilities and the philosophical context in which my artistic process operates. Through an investigation of different historical and theoretical backgrounds of contemplation in Asian perspective, I will provide a theoretical context for the processes that constitute my practice.