Kyung Hwa Shon

My work defined as Psychogeographic Abstract Landscape looks at the effects that specific environments have on me, and the memories and experiences I associate with them. I am interested in exploring how one adapts to unfamiliar urban circumstances and the scope of possible adaptation strategies. I have investigated the interactions between particular environmental systems and psychological perception.

Since 2002, I have intentionally sought out new experiences that would provide material and experimental data for art projects. I accomplished this primarily through changes in my environment; by relocating to different cities, being exposed to different cultures, languages, and architectural spaces. Living in Seoul, Paris, Chicago, and London, as well as working with patients at mental health facilities, comprise some of the unique physical and psychological experiences that inform my work. The necessity for swift adaptations to these experiences heightens my perceptions of the spaces and complex systems around me.

I attempt to understand the experience of adaptation and my own personal psychological and physical reactions to changing circumstances. In relation to this, I also focus on how accumulated particles of past memories merge with current experiences in my perception and understanding of present environments, and how my paintings can share a particular understanding of the present through sensory experiences and emotional responses with art viewers.