South Korean artist Su-Jeong Nam’s work, in a sense, mirrors the biological processes of her subjects. She begins with the base of color, applied with dry pigments. And then, line by line, vivid portraits of the natural world are grown. Nam says her detailed images are grounded in the familiar, yet highlight “an aspect invisible to most people, through the language of my own artistic process.” The result is metaphysical, a study of the harmony between the natural world and a broader understanding of the universe.
Nam’s granular eye for detail is rooted in her childhood, she says, when weak eyesight compelled her to alter the way she views the world. Her nearsightedness guided her into a closer relationship with the world’s flora. She pairs her labored, inked linework with elegant hues, whether depicting “Midsummer” above or offering pops of reds and yellows in “Where, How, Why,” below. Viewers, too, gravitate close to the images, inspecting the wonders contained. Through April 21, Nam’s work adorns the walls of Agora Gallery in New York City in their show titled “East Meets West: An Exhibition of Fine Art from Asia.”
