HEEJUNG CHO

My artistic practice examines how personal memories of familiar places inevitably distort into architectural abstraction. Using materials such as plaster, resin, and reclaimed wood, I dismantle and reconstruct urban structures and human figures from my everyday environment. This process captures the dynamic energy that exists between people and their surroundings, disrupting the conventional boundary between pictorial representation and abstraction. As an artist and immigrant, I have experienced firsthand the trials of physical displacement and migration. The anonymous spaces I encounter daily—streets, corners, and staircases—offer a powerful way to ground myself in reality and express moments of calm solitude. I believe these seemingly trivial moments are, in fact, essential to life. This simultaneous integration and friction between diverse communities, spaces, and people is the very essence of what I aim to capture in my art. The resulting collages and sculptural paintings, with their combinations of color, form, and texture, function as personal relics of these local places. These jutting and distorted juxtapositions generate a dialogue concerning the complex relationship between figure and space. Ultimately, my intention is to allow viewers to find their own sense of identity within these assemblages, equipping them with unique perspectives to confront the everyday realities of our world.