Artist Statement
The Infinite Mindscape / Net Structures of Happy Mind
“I want to take viewers into the very depth of their heart and soul and remind them of who they are.”
- Insook Hwang
My role as an artist is to inspire
and energize people with love and positive energy through my art, which
is creating magical forms and imaginative spaces. Through my playful
abstract forms, I portray a metaphorical world where there are no
cultural, political, racial, religious, national and ideological
differences - no boundaries. It is a transcendental space filled with
love and joyful energy of the universe.
From 2001, I've developed diverse mixed media
and techniques, which combine traditional techniques (such as freehand
drawing, painting, collage, sewing, and stamping) with various digital
techniques (digital print, lenticular prints, digital cutting,
photography and animation). The evolution of this has led to my current
mixed media works utilizing my own unique cloning and collage
techniques. The special characteristics of my works lie in the
repetitive, playful and whimsical combinations of cartoon-like symbols
and marks. When creating forms digitally, I use each small image like a
living cell, replicating them with slight variations in their form.
Since 2008, I have been creating my own
lenticular prints (holograms) and applying them as distinctive visual
elements in my works. The lenticulars, along with mirrors, add the
element of time to my works and one more dimension to my installations.
The lenticulars reveal different images when seen from different angles
as if multiple different spaces (times) exists in one spot. The mirrors
in my work are crucial elements visually and conceptually. It invites
viewers and incorporate them into my works: The mirrors are like a peep
hole between the universe and the viewer’s space, reflecting the
viewer’s moment of now, existing as a planet in the space. The
reflections in the mirrors are constantly changing making my work open
to each present moment.
In the series, Jubilation (2012), LoLoLove
(2012), Magic Bubbles (2012), Happy Nation (2012), The Moments (2013),
Purple Dance (2013), Purple Dance: Movement 1- 6 (2013), and the
Infinite Mindscape series: Energy - Love: Miracle (2015), Universe of
Love (2018), Love: Life Force (2019), Energy - Love: Bubbles of
Healing & Rejuvenation (2020), the abstract marks of two figures
that appear to hold hands and dance together symbolize the DNA of
harmony and the joy of humankind. In the lenticulars, I portray myself
as the cell of happiness and love, sitting like a multi armed Buddha in
the blue/green, pink and yellow bubbles, with the abstract heart marks
spreading out.
Energy - Love: Bubbles of Healing &
Rejuvenation (2020), represents the vibrations of energy and infinite
love flowing through me (from the universe) toward all human beings,
wishing them wellbeing and happiness. In the lenticulars, I digitally
manipulated the images that I found online of performers of different
cultures dancing and singing and overlaid them with images of flowers
that I encountered in my daily life. The dots inside the lenticular
continue the repeating element of the circular shapes, obscuring only
the faces in the images to anonymize the individuals. I also merged the
image of my self-portrait, as multi armed buddha, with one of the pink
flowers traveling in the space. The circles, their distribution
patterns, create constellations in the universe.
The net structures in my work symbolize the
boundless mind (a mind free of prejudice), transforming and expanding,
infinitely like the constellations of the universe. For the series of
recent work, Net Structures of Happy Mind (2019, 12” x
16”), I created two simple net shapes, a contrast to the complex
and large scale net installations of: Best Wishes From The Magic Temple
(layers of large drawings) Guardian - White Dino (2012, 6.5' x 8.5'),
The Tower (2012, 15' x 11'), Spaceship (2012, 13.7' x 11'), and Blue
Mountains (2013, 15” x 26”). I focused my experimentation
with the Net Structures of Happy Mind on colors, vibrant and
contrasting color combinations between painted and collaged colors,
making the work bold and rich like jewels. The textures and thickness
of the lines of each work vary according to techniques applied, some
are painted and collaged with contrasting layers of color while others
are created with just one layer of paint. Different sections are cut
out and filled in by attaching the lenticulars and mirrors to the back
of the canvas, giving depth, making each work unique. The Net
Structures of Happy Mind series is the cumulation of this process with
techniques of collage, painting, drawing, digital imaging and
lenticular making.
The Infinite Mindscape, drawings with bubbles
and spheres, and Net Structures of Happy Mind, through these
invigorating forms and spaces from my mind - resembling deep blue ocean
or blue night sky shining with countless celestial stars - I send my
warm wishes of peace, wellbeing and love to the people. In my mind, all
people in the world are bright, shiny, well and happy.