Work samples

  • Blood Clock 2020 May.jpeg
    Blood Clock 2020 May.jpeg
    The Blood Clock 2020 series of paintings are my response to Pipilotti Rist’s Blood Clip (1993) that displays copious flows of menstrual blood, for which she was accused of taking feminism too far. What does it mean to take feminism too far? This criticism of Rist’s work presented an interesting challenge to me. How do we rebel against social taboo and biological reductionism in favor of inclusive narrative about our bodies and biology? Menstrual taboo and stereotypes are ingrained in both historical and contemporary social structures and encompasses religion, politics, economics, ethnicity, class, gender identity, and other sociocultural factors. I chronicle the days of each month of the year 2020 when our collective sense of time had been distorted by the global pandemic. I integrated imagery from Georgia O’Keefe, who masterfully painted flower/vaginal images without stirring any sense of embarrassment or perverting the subject, to have an open conversation around menstruation, blood, and reproduction.
  • Pluto.jpg
    Pluto.jpg
    The image of modular living spaces against solar objects materialized in full color in my mind when I read about India Mahdavi’s global approach to interior design. She said, “I see space being divided by curtains instead of having walls. Because it gives you the modularity.” I was inspired by her use of colors, textures, and shapes to create livingscapes that are both otherworldly and familiar. Painting the human spaces alongside the solar objects felt like creating miniatures, a subject matter to which Gaston Bachelard dedicated an entire chapter in The Poetics of Space, examining how they shape the imagining being through fantasy and daydreaming. In it, he stated: “One must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small.” I wanted to explore this space beyond logic. The lush images of planets, dwarf planets, and moons provided a creative foundation for exploring various elements to create my own dreamscapes. Painting this series brought me back a fond childhood memory of building Lego houses and spaceships, of making my own rules and improvising, of taking joy in things that are cute, funny, and mind-blowing.
  • FC_Ag_land.jpg
    FC_Ag_land.jpg
    The paintings of Extraction are created in the intersection of landscape and abstraction. I sought the freedom of expression through automatic movements of my hands, rather than trying to exact the slice of nature’s chaos. I imagined what Georgia O’Keeffe saw in the air, a landscape that transforms into a tapestry of colors in abstraction . The paintings of Extraction attempt to capture this blurring of boundaries and scales. At the same time, the paintings of Extraction are created through a negotiation of creative desire and scientific inquiry into the extractive human existence on Earth.
  • balckwidow.jpg
    balckwidow.jpg
    In these paintings, I wanted to convert the reality I observed in the solar composition, responsible for the eclipse, into a creative process. It was simple at first with some walls and floors hosting the eclipse, then different contexts emerged as the series expanded. The series includes suns eclipsing in grey, synthetic, and natural structures and suns eclipsing in plants, along with two light box paintings staging the sun.

About Se Jong

Se Jong (Born in Seoul, South Korea, 1978) makes art to explore the extent of her imagination and broaden her creative domain. She began painting while pursuing her PhD in Environmental Engineering. Her training as a scientist taught her to become observant and think critically, and she cultivated her brand of creative expression that combine multidisciplinary perspectives and approaches.

 

Mushrooms and Mycelia

Mushrooms and mycelia demonstrate reciprocal arrangements among different species as an integral element of evolution and survival in nature. They provide clues to unravel the dualism that sets humanity and nature at opposite poles. Science and art can help to gain a broader and more comprehensive understanding of the natural world in order for us to rethink wilderness and to imagine more reciprocal relations. These paintings are my reflection of the microorganisms that can teach us about living symbiotically in nature.

  • Green Cordycep
    Green Cordycep
  • Red Cage Fungus
    Red Cage Fungus
  • Flowerpot Parasol
    Flowerpot Parasol

Blood Clock 2020

The Blood Clock 2020 series of paintings are my response to Pipilotti Rist’s Blood Clip (1993) that displays copious flows of menstrual blood, for which she was accused of taking feminism too far. What does it mean to take feminism too far? This criticism of Rist’s work presented an interesting challenge to me. How do we rebel against social taboo and biological reductionism in favor of inclusive narrative about our bodies and biology? Menstrual taboo and stereotypes are ingrained in both historical and contemporary social structures and encompasses religion, politics, economics, ethnicity, class, gender identity, and other sociocultural factors. I chronicle the days of each month of the year 2020 when our collective sense of time had been distorted by the global pandemic. I integrated imagery from Georgia O’Keefe, who masterfully painted flower/vaginal images without stirring any sense of embarrassment or perverting the subject, to have an open conversation around menstruation, blood, and reproduction.
  • Blood Clock 2020: May
    Blood Clock 2020: May
    Acrylic on canvas 30”x36” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: August
    Blood Clock 2020: August
    Acrylic on canvas 30”x36” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: January
    Blood Clock 2020: January
    Acrylic on Canvas 30”x36” 2021
  • Blood Clock 2020: June
    Blood Clock 2020: June
    Acrylic on canvas 30”x24” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: April
    Blood Clock 2020: April
    Acrylic on Canvas 30”x36” October 28, 2018
  • Blood Clock 2020: July
    Blood Clock 2020: July
    Acrylic on canvas 30”x24” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: September
    Blood Clock 2020: September
    Acrylic on Canvas 36”x30” October 28, 2018
  • Blood Clock 2020: December
    Blood Clock 2020: December
    Acrylic on canvas 30”x36” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: February
    Blood Clock 2020: February
    Acrylic on Canvas 36”x30” 2022
  • Blood Clock 2020: March
    Blood Clock 2020: March
    Acrylic on Canvas 36”x36” 2022

Modularity Space

The image of living spaces alongside solar objects materialized in full color when I read about India Mahdavi’s global approach to interior design. She said, “I see space being divided by curtains instead of having walls. Because it gives you the modularity.” I was inspired by her use of colors, textures, and shapes to create livingscapes that are both otherworldly and familiar.

Painting the human spaces alongside the solar objects felt like creating miniatures, a subject matter to which Gaston Bachelard dedicated an entire chapter in The Poetics of Space, examining how they shape the imagining being through fantasy and daydreaming. In it, he stated: “One must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small.” I wanted to explore this space beyond logic. The lush images of planets, dwarf planets, and moons provided a creative foundation for exploring various elements to create my own dreamscapes. Painting this series brought me back a fond childhood memory of building Lego houses and spaceships, of making my own rules and improvising, of taking joy in things that are cute, funny, and mind-blowing.
  • Mercury Lounge
    Mercury Lounge
    Acrylic on canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Venus Transit
    Venus Transit
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Earth Reading Room
    Earth Reading Room
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Moon Bedroom
    Moon Bedroom
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Mars Study
    Mars Study
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Jupyter Bath
    Jupyter Bath
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Saturn Gallery
    Saturn Gallery
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Uranus Pool
    Uranus Pool
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Neptune Breeze
    Neptune Breeze
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Titan Spa
    Titan Spa
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019

Backgrounds

I started to play around with watercolor after seeing Lisa Yuskavage show at BMA. I read how Yuskavage taught herself watercolor techniques from a book "The Art of Watercolor" when she had to teach a watercolor class after graduating. I bought the same book and taught myself how watercolor works by making these paintings of backgrounds.   
  • Background 6
    Background 6
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 5
    Background 5
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 3a
    Background 3a
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 3b
    Background 3b
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 4
    Background 4
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 2
    Background 2
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 1
    Background 1
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 7
    Background 7
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 8
    Background 8
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022
  • Background 9
    Background 9
    Watercolor on paper 4"x6" 2022

Eclipse: Infinite Ending

Solar eclipse of 2017 was an experience of spotting nature’s deceptions. The sun just seems like a glowing orange dot gliding in the sky over the course of a day, when it is really us that is circling away. Our perceptions betray the logic of the world all the time. Space and time in separate planes, on which we move forward.
 
James Baldwin declared that he is an observer. Observers, like Baldwin, are important members of our society; they remember, record, and reflect our realities, our past and present conditions, and our dreams for the future. I strive to become a keen observer. As a scientist, I am trained to observe and interpret the physical world. I grapple with natural processes and the uncertainties bound to the randomness that is intrinsic to nature. My scientific training influences how I approach painting and defines my identity as an artist (and as an observer). Thus, I find myself in a unique position, from pursuing multiple disciplines, to expose nature’s deceptions resulting from the limits of our perception.
 
In these paintings, I wanted to convert the reality I observed in the solar composition, responsible for the eclipse, into a creative process. It was simple at first with some walls and floors hosting the eclipse, then different contexts emerged as the series expanded. The series includes suns eclipsing in grey, synthetic, and natural structures and suns eclipsing in plants, along with two light box paintings staging the sun.
 
I took some hints from Hilma af Klint whose stint as a scientific illustrator seemed to have planted a seed for her magical abstractions. I was drawn to scientific and botanical art because they make knowledge and discoveries accessible. These paintings are inspired by both traditional botanical art (e.g., Franz Bauer’s illustration of Bird of paradise (c.1818)) and innovations made in high-resolution photography (e.g., Andrew Syred’s scanning electron microscope (SEM) image of Forget-me-not flower (2007)).
 
I also present two sets of watercolor paintings of butterflies and moths. They are inspired by Nabokov who saw colors for different letters of the alphabet and collected butterflies like he hunted for perfect elegant words. He was a master of deception creating many prodigiously sophisticated illusions, because he understood nature always deceives.
  • Purple Majesty
    Purple Majesty
    40”x26” Acrylic on Canvas 2020
  • Forget Me Not
    Forget Me Not
    36”x26” Acrylic on Canvas 2020
  • Grass Tree
    Grass Tree
    36”x26” Acrylic on Canvas 2020
  • Catalyst installation
    Catalyst installation
    Installation view
  • Catalyst installation2
    Catalyst installation2
    Installation view
  • Darwin's Orchid
    Darwin's Orchid
    40”x26” Acrylic on Canvas 2020
  • Total Eclipse Room
    Total Eclipse Room
    Acrylic on Canvas 32”x40” 2017
  • Total Eclipse Alternate Room
    Total Eclipse Alternate Room
    Acrylic on Canvas 32”x40” 2018
  • Catalyst installation3
    Catalyst installation3
    Installation view
  • Blue Pin Cusion
    Blue Pin Cusion
    36”x26” Acrylic on Canvas 2020

Extraction

The paintings of Extraction are created in the intersection of landscape and abstraction. I sought the freedom of expression through automatic movements of my hands, rather than trying to exact the slice of nature’s chaos. I imagined what Georgia O’Keeffe saw in the air, a landscape that transforms into a tapestry of colors in abstraction[1]. The paintings of Extraction attempt to capture this blurring of boundaries and scales. At the same time, the paintings of Extraction are created through a negotiation of creative desire and scientific inquiry into the extractive human existence on Earth.

[1] O’Keefe, Georgia. Letter to Maria Chabot, ‘In the Air’, November 1941, in Cowart, Hamilton and Greenough (eds.) 1987. P.231. 
  • Hutt Lagoon: Algae Farm
    Hutt Lagoon: Algae Farm
    36”x36”, acrylic on canvas, 2019
  • Arctic Oil Rig
    Arctic Oil Rig
    24”24”, acrylic on canvas, 2019
  • Ijsseloog: Waste Island
    Ijsseloog: Waste Island
    Acrylic on Canvas 36”x36” 2019
  • Grande Dixence Dam
    Grande Dixence Dam
    Acrylic on Canvas 36”x36” 2018
  • Lake Houses
    Lake Houses
    24”x24”, acrylic on canvas, 2019
  • Coal Terminal
    Coal Terminal
    24”x24”, acrylic on canvas, 2019
  • Agricultural Landscape
    Agricultural Landscape
    36”x36”, acrylic on canvas, 2021
  • Desert Golf Course
    Desert Golf Course
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2019
  • Potash Pond
    Potash Pond
    Acrylic on Canvas 24”x24” 2017

Matisse in bath

Interpreting Matisse

I first saw Matisse’s “Large Reclining Nude” at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Next to the painting, there is an explanatory plaque, showing how Matisse transitioned from precise depictions of the figure to more abstracted colors and shapes. It struck me that this generalization required rigor and imagination, and I decided to explore Mattisse’s paintings as a way to expand my understanding of creative expression.

Impressionists brought brilliant colors back to Western art after a period of realism, where light and shadow prevailed over color. Japanese ukiyo-e art prints influenced Impressionist painters, and this is evident not only in the colors, but also in the style and subject matter. Likewise, Matisse’s work is evocative of the flatness and colors of Japanese art, but also is reminiscent of decorative Islamic art, and sculptural African art. Through the synthesis of multiple cultures, Matisse created art works that tantalize and inspire so many people to this day.

My experiment in interpreting Matisse’ work is inspired by this possibility for synthesis across multiple ideologies and cultures. There is an advise from Cezanne to “deal with nature by means of the cylinder, the sphere, and the cone.” I approach painting with an appreciation for the complexities of our reality as a scientist, and I solve the challenge of representing this complexity. Einstein said, everything should be “made as simple as possible, but not simpler.” Painting Matisse interpretations presented me with the challenge of painting full continuous figures, which I had never done, and I approached this challenge by meeting a compromise between Matisse’ beautiful generalization of figure and my proclivity toward precision. I wanted these paintings to echo Matisse’s shapes and colors, but also create something new by merging my identity as an Asian woman and a scientist with Matisse’s.

 

Problems with nudes

Nudes are problematic and I was hesitant to create images that reinforce the particular existence of women that has been prevalent in the usage and conventions of Western art. From Berger’s Ways of Seeing: “To be born a woman has been to be born…into keeping of men… A woman must continually watch herself. She is almost continually accompanied by her own image of herself. Whilst she is walking across a room or whilst she is weeping at the death of her father, she can scarcely avoid envisaging herself walking or weeping.” In other words, women are less present than seen. Take Matisse’ reclining nude, for example; it’s a picture of a naked woman who is posing because she is aware of the surveyors’ gaze, including Matisse’s. So, I was conflicted about creating female nudes as objects to be seen. Painting these nudes, however, forced me to think about the implications of male gaze in women’s lives and how to resolve them in my own work.

How do I preclude the male gaze in female nude paintings? I concluded that if the figures are present, and are comfortable with their presences, then they are not merely posing to be seen; rather, they are daring to take up space in the world.

Traditional female nudes are often supine as if they lack strong spine to stand by herself. You take away the spine; women nevertheless survive, maybe with new found strength. In these paintings, the figures are quite spineless, but this spinelessness allows for certain vitality, with figures lunging, sliding, and jumping. The absence of features and orifices came about as a whim, but this strategy allowed me to avoid assigning individuality to these figures. In fact, they are not individuals; they are not even humans. They are derivatives of me, and all the things I have seen in my life with my female eyes.  

These nudes were also fun to paint. Georgia O’Keefe never meant to paint human vulvae with her flowers, and insisted that her skulls were not meant to convey death; they were simply “nice things” to paint. I approached these nudes the same way. The nudes were fun to paint with all the complexity of bones and muscles hidden under the layer of skin.


  • large Reclining Nude
    large Reclining Nude
    Large reclining nude (2017) 30”x40” Acrylic on canvas
  • Nude with Waves
    Nude with Waves
    Nude with waves (2018) 30”x40” Acrylic on canvas
  • Tobagon
    Tobagon
    Tobagon (2018) 48”x36” Acrylic on canvas
  • Nude with Hair in the Wind
    Nude with Hair in the Wind
    Nude with hair in the air (2018) 48”x36” Acrylic on canvas
  • Current Gallery Installation
    Current Gallery Installation
    Installation view

in/outside of room/f

When the peaks of our sky come together
My house will have a roof.
                                    -Paul Eluard, Dignes de vivre, Julliard, Paris, p. 115
 
You can read a room, or you can read a house. Both are psychological diagram that guide artists in their analysis of intimacy[1].
 
The artist used the rooms and roofs as a context for her to explore intuition. The placements of the objects inside of a room or outside on a roof are arbitrary with no symbolic gestures. Jung, in “depths of the unknown:” intuition is our interface with the whole of our potential.2 She used intuition to achieve harmoniousness, using whatever ability she has, in the spaces portrayed. The result is a certain style: a precise depiction of objects using controlled color selection. Cocteau writes: “Style is the soul, and unfortunately with us the soul assumes the form of the body” in refuting the decorative encumbrance any work of art with style may face. These paintings are things depicted through a certain style that should be experienced, because there is no content in these paintings, but hopefully they will excite or captivate the audience. This is the most intimate way the artist can connect with the audience.

[1] Bachelard, G., Stilgoe, J.R., 1994. The Poetics of Space, Reprint edition. ed. Beacon Press, Boston.
  • Roof with Waterfall
    Roof with Waterfall
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2017
  • Roof with Pool
    Roof with Pool
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2016
  • Roof with Flower
    Roof with Flower
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2017
  • Roof with Chairs
    Roof with Chairs
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2016
  • Roof with Watermelons
    Roof with Watermelons
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2016
  • Room with Sun
    Room with Sun
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2017
  • Room with Pool
    Room with Pool
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2016
  • Room with Marbles
    Room with Marbles
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2017
  • Room with View
    Room with View
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2016
  • Room with Feather
    Room with Feather
    20"x16" acrylic on canvas 2017

Evaporative images

Like a mass of condensed water vapor floating in the atmosphere, sound hangs in the air.
 
“Art is the game of extending our ‘shape of real’ without the necessity of present practical affirmation.”[1]
 
Paintings are static but musical composition (not on paper but in the air) is dynamic. Therefore, while the representations of the clouds are static, we invite the audience to imagine the dynamic and constant transformation of clouds as the sound atmospherically evolves around them. The dual installation of sound and images is intended to involve audience in multiple modes of participation, stimulating both visual and auditory senses thereby creating an environment where emersion is possible. Rather than the audience merely looking into pictorial boxes as an external examiner, we invite the audience to experience the visual images as a context for extending the shape of real through synthesis of their memories of shapes of real.

[1]  Irwin, R. Notes toward a Conditional Art. (J. Paul Getty Museum, 2011).
  • Diamond horizon: pink in oragne
    Diamond horizon: pink in oragne
    Acrylic on canvas 24inx24in May 25, 2015
  • Diamond Horizon: orange in pink
    Diamond Horizon: orange in pink
    Acrylic on canvas 24inx24in May 25, 2015
  • Glacier with a polar bear
    Glacier with a polar bear
    12 in x12 in Acrylic on canvas August 12, 2015
  • Bryce canyon with a mountain goat
    Bryce canyon with a mountain goat
    12in x12 in Acrylic on canvas August 12, 2015
  • Stellar Circulation
    Stellar Circulation
    Acrylic on canvas 36"x50" 2016
  • Cumulus Sink
    Cumulus Sink
    Acrylic on canvas 30"x40" 2016
  • Sun Suspension
    Sun Suspension
    Acrylic on canvas 30"x40" 2016
  • River Deltas
    River Deltas
    36”x72” acrylic on canvas 2014
  • sunset simulation
    sunset simulation
    Acrylic on canvas 24"x24" 2015
  • Sunrise Simulation
    Sunrise Simulation
    Acrylic on canvas 24"x24" 2015