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  • Exhibits
    • 2026 Exhibits
      • Freedom
      • Wendy Letven: Integrating Elsewhere
    • 2025 Exhibits
      • Not Just Set In Stone
      • Things We Carry: A Contemporary Asian Experience
      • Martine Kasmin: Resurfacing
      • Viewpoints 2025
      • Denis Orloff: A Journey through Painted Landscapes
      • Good Works
      • Strength and Resilience
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      • Donna Grande: Evolving Origins & Liminal Perceptions
      • Inspired by Family & Community
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      • Black and White Imprint
      • Marsha Heller: Impressions from Nature
      • Across The Line
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      • Inspired by the Weight of an Object
      • I AM HERE
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Sue Im Koo: The cool summer night flows along with the teachings of the river.

Sue Im Koo: The cool summer night flows along with the teachings of the river.

SKU: 2022-aoa96.

Medium: Mixed Media with Acrylic, Oil, rice papers on Canvas. Size: 36(W) x 24(H). A diary in which I wrote the awakening of life while watching the flowing river. In my work I depict abstract landscapes that represent my emotions and memories. My primary source of inspiration is my diaries that I have kept since I was a teenager. I write about emotional and traumatic events, as well as everyday observations. In recent years my work refers to other experiences and ideas, but it continues to be directly inspired by my writing.

Category: 25th Anniversary Auction. Tag: painting.
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In my work I depict abstract landscapes that represent my emotions and memories. My primary source of inspiration is my diaries that I have kept since I was a teenager. I write about emotional and traumatic events, as well as everyday observations. There is one episode in my past that is particularly influential. When I was 17, the Jong-Ro neighborhood in Seoul, South Korea where I grew up was destroyed in accordance with our government?s modernization plan. When I saw bulldozers break down houses one by one, I felt that the significance of my teenage years was being torn down. Decades later as an adult I began to make art based on passages from my teenage diary as a way of coming to terms with the loss of my childhood home. In recent years my work refers to other experiences and ideas, but it continues to be directly inspired by my writing. I interpret the moments recorded in the pages of my diary in dreamlike scenes that allude to the natural world. Rather than literal depictions of nature, my paintings are like interior or spiritual landscapes, representing thoughts, feelings, and memories. Each work is based on an excerpt from my diary, with titles taken directly from its pages. My process is not about creating something aesthetically pleasing, but rather a means of reconstructing and interpreting memories. In my work I seek to find something that I could never reach, recover the past that has been lost, and capture moments from the present and the future. My landscapes are, in a sense, the story and the journey of my life.

medium

Mixed Media with Acrylic, Oil, rice papers on Canvas

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  • Exhibits
    • 2026 Exhibits
      • Freedom
      • Wendy Letven: Integrating Elsewhere
    • 2025 Exhibits
      • Not Just Set In Stone
      • Things We Carry: A Contemporary Asian Experience
      • Martine Kasmin: Resurfacing
      • Viewpoints 2025
      • Denis Orloff: A Journey through Painted Landscapes
      • Good Works
      • Strength and Resilience
      • Katie Truk: Macro vs Macro
    • 2024 Exhibits
      • Dwelling In Hope
      • Donna Grande: Evolving Origins & Liminal Perceptions
      • Inspired by Family & Community
      • State of the Art 2024
      • Text
      • Viewpoints 2024
      • Yvette Lucas: Second Nature
      • Black and White Imprint
      • Marsha Heller: Impressions from Nature
      • Across The Line
    • 2023 Exhibits
      • The Life and Culture of Modern Day Latinidad
      • Inspired by the Weight of an Object
      • I AM HERE
      • State of the Art 2023
      • Critique Group Showcase 2023
      • ViewPoints 2023
      • Local Materiality
      • Rhythm and Blues
    • 2022 Exhibits
      • On the SURFACE
      • Pages
      • Inspired by George Inness
      • It’s Academic
      • State of the Art 2022
      • Critique Group Showcase
      • ViewPoints 2022
      • Mujeres del 2021
    • 2021 Exhibits
      • Absolute Abstraction
      • Inspired by an Object
      • State of the Art 2021
      • ViewPoints 2021
      • Womyn’s Werq
      • Privilege, Power, and Everyday Life
    • 2020 Exhibitis
      • ViewPoints 2020
      • Inspired by Dance
      • State of the Art 2020
  • Cart
  • Main Website