ARTIST STATEMENT
(Click here for PDF file of Artist Statement)
The human condition has been the main source of motivation in my art. I draw from the human circumstances that flourish between reality and perception. Born and raised in the Korean myth culture and adopting Buddhist philosophy, I assume that the world we are living is not real but is an illusion that we perceive. I doubt that there is anything like truth in this sense.
We believe that humans are the top of the hierarchy in our ecological system. We are trained to behave and pretend in a specific way to fit into mainstream society. What many of us do not realize is that humans are just a kind of animal, have animal instincts. We want to eat, excrete, protect ourselves, and at the same time attack others.
When we regard the physical manifestations of the world as true, they can be seductive because we see and feel them. I see these “facts” as illusions. We are set and programmed to see certain images rather than the real. Therefore, I am creating my own reality within this context. We are more like animals than we think we are. These images are my way of seeing reality in this human world without any pretense. I choose to depict our human society in metaphor and satire.
-EunKang Koh
