Artist Statement

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The term, Uki-yo, the literal translation known as the Floating world, has always evoked a sense of wonder in me. The meaning of the word stems from the Buddhist concept that everything is in the state of flux, therefore in the more usual sense, it refers to the temporal, physical or worldly world we live in.  

 

* Laying the literal meaning aside, I think what gives the term an enigmatic feeling is that its meaning transcends definition. At the same time, it reminds us that man has always pursued understanding about the relationship between man and the universe such that we question where we come from, where we are going, and how to get there in a timeless manner unbound by time. In this sense, the Floating world is the phenomenology of time.

 

Inspired by the idea of the Floating World, I explore the themes of visual perception and the bodily experience through my abstract painting, the process of how images come to appear through my work. My paintings are the dialogue of the unconscious and the conscious, interaction of chance and necessity, and an endless oscillation of the moment. To look is to desire, but that desire will never be reached, for before anything is represented before us, it will always slip away as quickly as it catches up with itself.

 

 

*  The interesting history about the word, Ukiyo, is that because it is a homonym, the meaning that was attached differed depending on the time it was used. During the period marked by frequent warfare, a character uki 憂き was used to mean the “world of grief” longing for the life after death. On the other hand, during the era of political, economic and cultural prosperity, a character 浮き(which means floating) was used instead, to describe the pleasure-seeking attitude of people.