long overdue update

Leslie Kwon, Aura (Body Sculpture)
Felt, Copper Wire, Thread

things are a little crazy lately. the image above is one of my favorite works from the SoA Annual Open, which will up be at the Jacob Lawrence Gallery until March 14th. i have one piece in the show:

Two Ways of Looking (At the Same Thing)

Admittedly, it looks really terrible as a tiny jpeg, so the clear solution is for you to go see it in person. This is the first finished piece from part of an ongoing exploration with removing distinguishable edges from everyday scenes. Through these works, I'm attempting to question the methods by which information is packaged, received, and subsequently interpreted. The beginnings of the project were informed by social psychology principles, which state that an individual’s interpretation takes precedence over factual description in determining the “reality” of an external stimulus. In this way, the photographic medium has much in common with everyday sense-making of the world; the apparent fidelity of photographs have historically been accepted as impartial documentation, discounting the viewer’s intermediary process of interpretation. Eliminating the edges and defining characteristics from photographs depicting ordinary environments attempts to radically deviate from the standard conception of a photograph in order to disrupt the automatic acceptance that is associated with perceiving photographic representation as well as with everyday experience.

other things that are going on:

a group show of site-specific works for Harborview Medical Center which opened a few weeks ago. at the moment, i only have installation views, but a more updated post of the entire show will be coming soon!

According to My Ability and My Judgment

My initial inspiration while thinking about this project stemmed from a desire to reconcile the fundamentally contradictory nature of hospitals. While the function of the hospital is largely mediated by medical science that is grounded in hard facts, the judgment and humanity of the doctors and their relationships with patients are also of critical importance. I also wanted to explore the tension between finding the objectivity of science to be comforting in the face of uncertainty, while also acknowledging that the same objectivity can also be alienating and impersonal.
I chose to translate an excerpt from the original Greek text of the Hippocratic Oath into the 1's and 0's of binary code in an attempt to unite the subjectivity of language (and the necessitating of human interpretation to impart meaning) with the definitive nature of encoding that is representative of indisputable fact. Using textiles and embroidery allowed me to impart a degree of tenderness to the work, bringing a more comforting incarnation of what would otherwise be interpreted as overwhelmingly objective. My decision to hand-stitch over a thousand 1's and 0's was an homage to the stitching of wounds as well as acknowledging the patience and endurance of doctors.

The original text is as follows:
"Διαιτήμασί τε χρήσομαι ἐπ' ὠφελείῃ καμνόντων κατὰ δύναμιν καὶ κρίσιν ἐμὴν, ἐπὶ δηλήσει δὲ καὶ ἀδικίῃ εἴρξειν."

And (an) English translation is:
“I will prescribe regimens for the good of my patients according to my ability and my judgment and never do harm to anyone.”

I chose this excerpt for its assimilation into the public consciousness in the form of "first do no harm"; and for its emphasis on the subjective ideas of 'judgment' and 'harm' that are particularly subject to interpretation and reinterpretation, dependent on constructions of society, culture, and paradigm.

another thing that has come and gone was an installation at the Skinny Gallery with work by Justan Ulmer and I; the piece in the center is Justan's, and mine consists of the two pedestals with recorders on the opposing sides of the gallery.

The Inevitable Intersection

Continuing my exploration with language and interpretation, The Inevitable Intersection stemmed from a desire to explore the decay and distortions that memory undergoes through space and time. Two voice recorders were placed on opposite sides of the gallery, one playing and one recording. The initial first recording documented the installation of Justan Ulmer’s piece that took place over eight hours. Upon the opening of the show, this recorder played the audio remnant of the show’s installation across the gallery space to the other recorder, which was recording. Alternating the playing and recording of the two recorders on subsequent days created a final audio recording that reflected the aggregated result of all of the activity taking place within the space for the duration of the show. By placing the recorders against opposing walls, the sounds of visitors that walked into the gallery space were recorded along with the insertion of ambient noise. In order to interact with the piece, the viewer is forced to insert themselves between the intersecting “listening” and “speaking” recorders, providing an element of audio disturbance. The presence of these disturbances attempts to explore the idea of interpretation and misinterpretation that inevitably results from communication.

The last hurdle for this particular quarter will be an artist's book which is still in the works that will contain ducumentation and statements for all of these projects, in addition to some previous work that has led up to this point.

And then next quarter:

Whew! I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm ecstatic to finally be on the home stretch.