Youngmi Won

Ephemeral Eternal, Eternal Ephemeral

Everyone encounters the moment that a dream becomes a reality, whether a good or bad dream, at least once in their life. For example, the world seems to turn upside down or collapse as if they are having a nightmare. In the current status quo, we often encounter situations that only likely happen in dreams. It is no exaggeration to say that all the rationales in our world are ready to be overturned at any time. The overturned world within my works and the title of Ephemeral Eternal, Eternal Ephemeral imply my feeling from such experiences, denoting the subversive or interconnected relationship between all kinds of dualistic aspects of our life. Embracing the idea that seemingly contradictory or opposing forces in nature are, in fact, interdependent and complementary, I compose landscapes where illusion and daily life may coexist, expressing the equivocal aspects of this world.My use of subtle and careful application of paint over the photograph intensifies confusion. It deceives the viewer whether it is a photograph or painting—whether it is reality or illusion. Hence, I doubt our binary perception about two mediums as means of representation of reality as well as about the world we live in—fantasy and reality, life and death, or inauthenticity and authenticity.