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© Su A Chae

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Su A Chae

Midwestern United States

Artist Statement

My previous involvement in accounting in my country, South Korea, for ten years taught me not only technical accounting methods, but also an understanding of the role of accounting that is to reduce information asymmetry and moral hazards in capitalism. By approaching painting from both perspectives of a meticulous accountant or auditor and a self-expressing creator, I investigate the ambivalence associated with identity and asymmetrical balance to create paradoxical propositions. The excising of unnecessary information and the restoration of balance liberate the painting, the individual, and, hopefully, society.
The stripes, grids and repeated patterns in my paintings serve as a vehicle for addressing of separation, interference, confrontation, and tension, as well as a structural framework, not unlike an account book. The shape of the fence or gate accompanied by the patterns acts as a physical, psychological or cultural barrier that I have experienced since I moved to the United States. The optical illusions created by shifting, refracting, and interposing the patterns or pictorial space often imply the struggles for social adaptation with alienness. The tension and ambiguity between the micro and macro, the interior and exterior, the organic and mechanical, the illusionary and material, and the abstract and figurative interrogates about what it is what we see it, and it opens up the discourse of human possibility, diversity, and coexistence. I employ gentle colors and their soft transitions not only to balance out the anxiety and tightness embedded within my work but also to invite the viewers to my mindscape tied to a material space and to see their own multi-layered images as reality.

© Su A Chae

Su A Chae 's Portfolio

Su A Chae, Ataraxia (gallery install shot), acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 80 x 360 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Ataraxia (right 4 of 8 panels), acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 80 x 360 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Ataraxia (left 4 of 8 panels), acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 80 x 360 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Autumn Note, acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 20 x 20 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Cabinet of Curiosities, acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Language Barrier, acrylic on canvas, 36 x 36 inches, 2018
Su A Chae, (no)things to do, acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 8 x 10 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, Sound Garage, acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 12 x 12 inches, 2019
Su A Chae, We need not fight each other, acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 48 x 48 inches, 2018
Su A Chae, Wrong Spot, acrylic and molding paste on canvas, 60 x 60 inches, 2018

© Su A Chae

Artist Biography

Su A Chae is a South Korean visual artist, currently based in the Midwestern United States. She received an MFA in painting from Indiana University Bloomington and an MA and a BA in Business from Ewha Womans University in Seoul, South Korea. She attended a painting workshop at Penland School of Craft with full scholarship. She also completed the Tyler School of Art Summer Painting & Sculpture Intensive. Her work has been exhibited nationally at venues such as the Painting Center in New York, Icebox Project Space in Philadelphia, Harrison Center for the Art in Indianapolis, Ivy Tech John Waldron Arts Center in Bloomington and Young Space (online). Her work has been featured in Studio Visit Magazine, Herald-Times, Friend of the Artist, Create! Magazine and forthcoming Maake. Su A Chae will be an artist-in-residency at Vermont Studio Center this winter.

suachae.com

@sua_chae

© Su A Chae

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