making process

  • A New Piece, #107

    In Art, Artist, creative process, making process, News, Painting, Sculpture on

    My studio is in woods. Sometimes, when I walk back to our house at night, the darkness erases traces of “civilization” and confronts me with an uncanny feeling of being in nature alone.

    The other night, on the freshly snowed ground, I spotted the foot prints of a creature. From the size and shape, it must have been a fox. I’ve only seen two of them around. One time, the circle of my flashlight revealed a small owl on the ground. It must have been startled by the light, it was frozen. It was a rare sighting of the unusually shaped bird at a close range.

    My mind struggles to imagine their lives but it only ends in feeling a sense of awe toward them and their habitat.

    Working in my studio sort of mirrors those experiences. Sometimes I get to encounter something that I want to share with you. Thank you for seeing my work.

    #107, 54 x 64 x 10 inches, pigmented resin, 2025

  • A new piece, #106

    In Art, Artist, creative process, From the Studio, making process, new work, News, Painting, Sculpture on

    In the series of smaller works I recently started, I use the by-products of the pigmented resin sheets which cover the surfaces of the larger pieces. I have a big pile of those bits and pieces. It’s interesting that a process for other pieces leads to a starting point for something else. When materials are processed, it gives me glimpses of possibilities beyond established rules and frameworks. Very fascinating.

    Also, I enjoyed (struggled) with some paintery stuff with this one, which I appreciated since I probably miss the flexibility of working on 2D surfaces.

    #106, 14”x18”x2 1/4”, paint and pigmented resin on wood, 2025

  • Studio Update June 2023

    In Art, Artist, creative process, From the Studio, making process, Sculpture on

    Here are a couple of pieces in progress. I haven’t really made any piece that’s meant for outside, although the thought of it has been with me for awhile.  I like the idea of outdoor elements being part of the dynamics.  I like the idea of putting the work where it can be seen by people who generally don’t go out to see art.  These two pieces will be in an outdoor show which will open this fall.

  • Miraculously Wonderful

    In Art, Artist, creative process, From the Studio, making process, Sculpture on

    We just took a family trip to Japan. It was quite overwhelming—catching up with an old friend, spending time with my family, making new friends, visiting breathtakingly beautiful places, enjoying exceptional food culture. Now I’m back home being greeted by new pieces in progress. The fruit trees which I planted last year are growing, showing the unstoppable cycle of life around me.

    It’s crazy that all the things we cherish fall into right places more or less when we know that things could go wrong in so many ways. Nothing could be planned to be the way they turn out, but we do find things to be miraculously wonderful sometimes. That’s how I want to work in the studio too.

    #74, 24 1/2″ x 24 1/2″ x 57, painted resin, 2011-13

  • New Additions to the Site, January 16, 2023

    In Art, Artist, creative process, making process, Sculpture on

    Here are three pieces recently added to my site in sculpture section under 1995-2005.

    I wonder if I will ever see these pieces in person again. Seeing older pieces can be an odd experience. It’s like meeting an old friend but the friend hasn’t aged at all; I meet the presence just as I remember. It’s as if time and space don’t exist where they live.

  • New additions to the site, January 8, 2023

    In Art, Artist, making process, Sculpture on

    I didn’t grow up surrounded by art. I was really into making plastic model kits, drawing comic book characters or just making things in general as a kid. But I didn’t really know visual art as a potent social institution. I had to be exposed to art in front of my eyes. I took an art class when I was attending community college. The teacher showed me his paintings and drawings, demonstrating that marks on paper can do what sounds can do with music. This was eyeopening for me. I was captivated by this phenomenon. So from the very beginning, my interest centered around capturing this mysterious quality that somehow moves me.

    So it’s probably not a coincidence that I stuck with simpler forms without recognizable representations. I wanted to capture this mysterious thing, not to represent a concrete idea with symbols or narratives. I wanted to be struck directly with this something. The works I did around that time are heavily guided by this idea.

    These two pieces show my typical ways of mark making at the time and later time as well. One is circular forms made by electric drills with spade bits. I like the contrast of precise circles and how they meet with the materials to express the physicality. Second is the use of homemade encaustic paint applied to express textures and tones of the surface. The paint is also used to express structural dynamics with lines, shapes, contrasts and so on.