What would happen if you wrote down all the things you love in a notebook? What if you added your most precious memories to it? If a random person found it, how would they visualize your inner world? Artist Byun Sehee has done just that, at the expense of never leaving introspection aside she has created her own unique and constantly evolving universe.

Looking at a work by Sehee requires almost the same attention as looking at Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights. Every time you look at it, a new detail will appear, a new tiny character capable of captivating you with a single glance, of reminding you of something you had forgotten.

Each and every animal, including the anthropomorphic ones, is associated with Byun Sehee, with who has been in her past and who she is in her present

These characters are not random, nor do they appear by chance before the viewer's eyes. Each and every animal, including the anthropomorphic ones, is associated with Byun Sehee, with who has been in her past and who she is in her present. That is why more and more of them appear, because her world never ceases to be updated. But the artist's aim with her work is to make the viewer stop and think about her own life, the things she likes and the hidden memories she still has from her childhood, even if only for a while. 

To tell the stories she wants to tell through her paintings, Sehee's main source of inspiration is the objects she loves. For example, a flower pot she recently bought when she was enchanted by its pattern; arborvitae and persimmons planted in her home garden; two small carnations planted by her mother under the flower bed; a cheese-coloured cat and a tuxedo-print cat that come to her house every day; beautiful patterned rugs; exotic handicrafts; an acrylic teddy bear mobile by her studio window; and toys she has collected for years. 

The artist herself says "It would be great if people who appreciate my work could look at it and think about their happy childhood memories and the things they like and care about. I hope they can, even vaguely, think of their 'world' in their lives." Byun Shee's work will soon be on view in a wonderful collaborative exhibition presented by VLAB.

"It would be great if people who appreciate my work could look at it and think about their happy childhood memories and the things they like and care about. I hope they can, even vaguely, think of their 'world' in their lives."