Minjong Oh

I take a train with 128 people. The sign says it is a suitable capacity for each car, but I feel cramped on the train every day. It might mean there are more passengers than it is supposed to be. I delete everyone around me, the train, and even myself to bear the stream of people. However, it does not work every time. I encounter numerous people. Everyone is unique. Paradoxically, that is why everyone is ordinary. When I arrive home, I think of somebody I passed by on that day. They are blurred, distorted, and obscure. They blend like various colours and turn grey inside me.

I explore the flood of beings in my work. It is a study of the existential crisis described by the writers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus. Everything in the world, trees, stones, buildings, animals, humans, and even my life, was born without purpose. My work reveals the fundamental emptiness. The exhibited paintings are inspired by “Chaekgeori”, a traditional genre of painting from the Joseon period of Korea that illustrates one’s belongings. I erase all the books and things on their full bookshelf and only leave the frame that contained them.