Byun Sehee (b. 1990, Jeju, South Korea) is a painter whose works are filled with characters that are inspired by childhood imagery. Her vivid colors and bold contours portray her paintings as if they are illustrations from children’s books and 90’s cartoon shows taking the viewer back in time to that age. The narratives in her paintings are closely related to childhood memories and emotions.

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1. Do you consider art to be an important part of your life? If yes, why?  

To me, the act of creating work has a strong ‘therapeutic&healing’ nature. The act of filling and healing the cracks in the heart.

I believe that art plays an important role in purifying and healing people's minds. While I am drawing, I feel my mind becoming more delicate, organized, and relaxed. These emotions I feel while drawing have a huge impact on my daily life. When I brush or mix paint, I feel my mind becoming clearer and my energy up. When this feeling lasts all day, my feel very comfortable and stable.

Keeping my mind at peace is a more important part of everyday life than my might think, and it affects and plays many roles in my daily life.

I believe that art plays an important role in purifying and healing people's minds. While I am drawing, I feel my mind becoming more delicate, organized, and  relaxed.

2. Do you have a previous creative process before painting a new artwork? What  is your approach when working on a new work?  

I don’t have a special method when creating new works. If I had to explain it, I think my creative approach can be found in my ‘habits.’

I don't tend to keep my hands still.

So, I usually write things down on paper and doodle often. I record everything in the notebook I carry in my bag every day and in the small notebook I keep next to the coffee machine.

This year, I installed the ‘Notes’ app on my cell phone, and the app is very useful.  I like the convenience of being able to write anywhere, so I continue to write using the cell phone app.

So, for most of my works, I tend to create works by recombining sentences or keywords that I often write down in my notebook or app, as well as images that I have scribbled, onto the canvas. This is because I believe that the works produced through this method are the  most honest and allow me to clearly reveal my daily thoughts.

3. What exactly inspired you when you started working? Were you influenced by  any books from your childhood?  

It's more like a diary than a special inspiration. Therefore, my works have a very personal nature, and everything that happens in my daily life, including childhood memories and favorite books, serve as inspiration and ideas for me.

The reason why I am particularly obsessed with childhood memories is because I feel that the memories of the most completely innocent times are the most beautiful. For me, childhood memories have a feeling of excitement and tickling spring breeze somewhere in my heart.

The reason why I am particularly obsessed with childhood memories is because I  feel that the memories of the most completely innocent times are the most  beautiful.

4. Can you tell us one memory that inspires you for doing one of the artworks of  the exhibition?  

I have a strong attachment to every piece I produce.

These are all works that contain various stories, but I felt a bit special when I saw Dandelion recently. I went up to the roof of the studio building and looked at the dandelions for a while while drinking coffee, and I was caught up in many thoughts.

I think it may have been especially because this is the time when dandelions are  forming colonies. It was a bright yellow dandelion, and it was a dandelion that could never live on a rooftop.

This is because this rooftop was a space without soil or water needed for plants to grow. However, this dandelion dug into the cracks of the cement floor and grew into a very brightly colored dandelion. I don't know when this dandelion started digging into the cracks in the cement floor of this rooftop, but I was surprised and a little sad that it grew naturally in this barren environment.

As time passes on this rooftop where no one is looking in, the color of the yellow petals will fade, and the dandelions will turn into pure white feathers and disappear. I think I thought more about it because it felt like it resembled human destiny.

When a dandelion reaches the end of its life, I think that the dandelion feathers  will fly through the sky with the wind and find another place and take root there,  so I feel a little relieved that the 'end' is not an eternal 'end'. And it reminded me  of Buddhism’s ‘reincarnation’. Then, I came down from the rooftop, recorded all  the thoughts I had, sat down in front of the easel, and started preparing to draw.  The work that was created after that was ‘only oneumbrella#1’

Now that I think about it, I went up to the rooftop to drink coffee and take a  break, but I think it was actually a time that made me think a lot.

5. The exhibition is entitled “Sparkling Pieces”, why did you decide to call it that?  Is there any meaning of the title with which your exhibited works have glitter?  

‘Sparkling pieces’ is a metaphorical expression. I expressed happy memories and beautiful times in my daily life and life as  ‘pieces.’ Sculptures created in a different time and 'pieces' The ‘pieces’, which contain fragmentary and fleeting moments, sparkle and shine beautifully in themselves.  

Like a star that continues to shine in its place even in pitch-black darkness. When a time of showers comes in my life, I take out the sparkling pieces from the  bowl in my heart and receive comfort and strength again. Also, I believe that  everyone has a ‘piece’ in their heart that makes their life beautiful and gives them the driving force for tomorrow.

‘Sparkling pieces’ is a metaphorical expression. I expressed happy memories and beautiful times in my daily life and life as  ‘pieces.’  

6. The artwork “달콤한세상 SWEET WORLD” is remaining of the oil painting “The  Garden of Earthly Delights” by the artist Bosch, did you we influenced by him  somehow?

I really love classic paintings, and among them, ‘Hieronymus Bosch’ is a painter I have really loved since my college days. His work had a great influence on me. Although his work has a very strong religious message, I think it is a work that draws out a lot of imagination.

I also hope that by arranging my various big and small stories on one screen, people can infer the story using clues from the lives and objects in my work and create their own new stories to enjoy visual enjoyment. Like a stranger arriving on a new island.

7. We can see a lot of witches and magicians in your artworks, do they represent  something about you?  

The various characters and animals that appear in my work perform their own roles within the screen. Among them, the ‘Wizard’ has the role of creator and solver in the world I created.

If there is a ‘God’ in the world we live in, in the world I created, a ‘wizard’  performs that task within the canvas. However, it was expressed as a familiar friend rather than a solemn and sacred  absolute. Things that are impossible in the real world we live in can be made possible  through a ‘wizard’ within the canvas. 'Daisy’ is a young girl who admires a wizard.

Typically, young girls (13 to 17 years old) go through puberty at a certain time and go through an emotional roller coaster. I also think they grow to admire  people they want to be like. I took a motif from the images of those girls, and  because I also had that kind of time. So, I made ‘Daisy’ into a young girl with a personality that admires and envies  wizards. In fact, ‘Daisy’ is named after a flower that my mother loves.

My mother is sometimes strict, but she has a warm heart and girlish emotions. So, the idea that I want to become a warm person like my mother when I get older is something I have been thinking about ever since I was young, and at some point, as I got older, I think ‘daisy’ became the flower I love.

Maybe it could be the daughter's desire to be like mother.

people can infer the story using clues from the lives and objects in my work and  create their own new stories to enjoy visual enjoyment. Like a stranger arriving on  a new island.  

8. In the artwork “Dandelion Seeds” we can see that the seeds mentioned are the  umbrellas your characters use. Do you like to make those types of fantastic  comparisons in your works? Does this decision have any meaning?  

Dandelion seeds, which fly freely in the wind, are highly fertile plants that take root and survive even in harsh environments. Dandelions easily adapt to any soil conditions, withstand wind and rain, and grow until they turn into yellow flowers. After that, it flies freely in the sky following the wind, looking like a white cotton  ball like the head of a white-haired old man.

I hope that people's lives are as beautiful as dandelion flowers. Even though people go through many twists and turns, they grow a lot in them, and when they grow older and death approaches, they are like dandelion seeds that fly with the wind with a detached mind. These thoughts of mine gave meaning to the characters flying around with umbrellas.

9. You say you let the viewer decipher the symbols and objects and create their  own story, but we have a question. Do you create your own stories before you  make a work of art?  

In my work, very personal stories are incorporated into the work in a hybrid  form.

Because I place various stories from my experiences on one screen, I create stories big and small through various characters, animals, and objects within the work. There are also times when new narratives are created, including some mythological stories or narratives.

In conclusion, all the stories are placed on one canvas to create another new narrative.

Viewers looking at my work interpret the meaning of the work by projecting their thoughts and experiences onto the work. The point I think is most important is in this part.

I think that the more explain a work to the audience, the less likely they are to imagine a new story. I don't want that part.

I believe that a work is not completed by the artist alone, but that when the viewer looks at the work and gives it new meaning, the meaning of the work is enriched and completed through various sympathies. So, I want the audience to imagine various things using a few clues and keywords in the work.

10. Where do you see yourself in the future? Would you like to write a book about  your characters?  

Various possibilities are always open. In addition to books, I want to express my stories through various media and materials. Whether it's a book or video, I want to try anything if I find it enjoyable and worth trying.