My name is Oh Dawon. I'm from Korea. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in 2019, I got into China Academy of Art to study the master's program offered by the Department of Chinese Painting, School of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy.
In my view, the theme of the graduation exhibition, "Brain Garden" represents our inner world. Every student's artwork is a small garden that comes together to form a vast "Brain Garden". Art is the product of human imagination and creativity. It is inspired by what goes on inside our brains. I think that the "Brain Garden" is the thriving creative space inside our brain as well as a metaphor for a garden for the arts. The graduation exhibition allows us to explore the artistic forces that connect our inner world with the physical world and help us better understand our brain's creative capacity and what goes on inside.
My graduation work is centered on the theme of stone, waves and rain. Through the work, I explored the existential emptiness and loneliness that individuals feel in the 21stcentury and the divorce between reality and aspirations.
The unyielding, resilient stone represents humankind's persistent and unchanging nature in the real world. Its cold, inflexible nature reflects people's aloneness and loneliness. The waves that gush through the gaps between the stone epitomize the collision between the changes and challenges that humankind faces in life and our resultant emotions and anxiety. The rain adds an additional layer of profundity to the artwork and becomes a bridge that connects with our inner world. Its quality of clarity and purity transforms it into a mirror that reflects the distortions separating reality and aspiration as well as reason and emotion. Through my graduation work, I hope to illuminate individuals' emotional pains and confusions while suggesting the possibility of hope and liberation. I hope that everyone can summon the courage to plunge into the chaos of life, confront the complexities and tensions in our life and gain the motivation for inner growth and exploration.
My three years of study at China Academy of Art has deepened my understanding of Chinese culture. I learned about the cultural settings, traditional techniques and artistic value of Chinese painting and garnered new artistic insights that helped to improve the way I express myself creatively. The experience has also affected my thoughts and hopes for the future. I have developed an interest in the thought and exploratory processes behind the individual creative process as well as Chinese-Korean artistic exchanges.
