This image provided by artist Je Mi-young shows “Kahwa (House and Flower)” created in 2016. (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 28 (Korea Bizwire) – Seen from afar, Je Mi-young’s work looks just like a painting: Korean houses, alleys and nature are depicted in bold and vivid colors and in such great detail that capture small flower pots on roof tops, laundry hanging in the front yard, and books and curtains seen through small windows.
This image provided by artist Je Mi-young shows “Kiwa House in Coming Spring.” Kiwa means roof tiles in Korean. (Image: Yonhap)
A closer look, however, reveals that her work is, in fact, rendered in a patchwork collage of colorful pieces of fabric on a canvas. Korean sensitivity is beautifully expressed through the country’s traditional houses “hanok,” two-story modern houses perched on a hilly village and various auspicious figures from folk art, known as “minhwa.”
This image provided by artist Je Mi-young shows “Kahwa (House and Flower)” created in 2017. (Image: Yonhap)
A fine arts major from a university in the port city of Busan, she went to Seoul’s Hongik University again to study oriental art. The decision was only natural for her as she felt “thirsty” while studying Western art as she knew it wasn’t her thing. But even after she earned her master’s degree in oriental painting, she felt lost for a while, she said.
This image provided by artist Je Mi-young shows her 2017 work “Scenery with House.” (Image: Yonhap)
Intent on discovering a new beauty from familiar scenery, the artist expressed a simple wish: “I hope my art can comfort people and make them want to look at it for just a little bit longer.”
(Yonhap)
