The Journey of Artistic Evolution: From Memories to Universality
Initiated and organized by The Bridge Arts Foundation, the 'Beyond Borders' Global Young Artist Open-Call Exhibition is currently being held at The Scholart Selection Art Space in San Gabriel, California, and will run until December 31, 2023.
Bridge Arts Foundation's Art Director, Tia Xu, engaged in a conversation about the exhibition and art with several artists participating in this exhibition. In this interview, we have the pleasure of speaking with Seoul/Baltimore-based artist Wonchul Ryu.
—— Q&A ——
Tia Xu: Could you please share your background and what inspired you to pursue a career in art?
Wonchul Ryu: I am Wonchul Ryu (류원철), a visual artist based in Seoul, Korea, and Baltimore. I think exploring various fields during my early twenties, a time of wandering, led me to do art. Before I started making artwork, I was an ordinary Korean high school student who wanted to go to a good college for a better job. At the moment, I was not interested in art. I just focused on getting a good grade on each exam. However, everything changed when I entered a famous university in Korea with Chemical Engineering. In the first engineering class, I felt I did not belong here. Since that day, I have worked in various fields: math teacher, education program manager, clockmaker, assistant for excavating fallen soldiers, and more. After several years passed, I wanted to understand unnamable situations, spaces, and emotions from these experiences through making paintings and installations.
Wonchul Ryu’s “Exodus: Why Do You Climb” installation view, photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: What does "Beyond Borders" mean to you, and how does your work in this exhibition either reflect or challenge this concept?
Wonchul Ryu: "Beyond Borders" means to me that communication and building relationships with others. When I first checked the open call, I was surprised because the title is also the current topic of my work. Since I moved to the United States in 2022, I realized how much I and my work concentrated on individual experiences in Korea. It pushes me to consider how I can communicate with people in this land who use different languages and have other cultural, gender, racial, and domestic experiences. My practice has been through how people who have different backgrounds with me can also interact with my work. So now, my current works focus on expanding from personal memory to general experience as a human being and Asian.
Wonchul Ryu, The Waiting room, 2020, 63 x 35.50 in, photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: Can you tell us the story behind a specific artwork from the exhibition?
Wonchul Ryu: My painting, The Waiting Room (우린 나쁜 꿈 속에 있었지), is about the strangers who are waiting to wake up from the same nightmare. This work came from my personal experience in a group counseling session a few years ago. During the session, I met a lot of different people who have different ages, gender, religion, economic status, and other diverse backgrounds. As time went by, people shared their harrowing experiences, and there were lots of similarities each person could relate to their own experiences, even though they had different pathways. It made temporal but concrete connections in the community. The similarities between the people's hardships make me think we are in the same nightmare. The painting is my wish that the traumas of the community members become lighter than before.
Wonchul Ryu’s “Jet Lag” installation view, photo courtesy of artist.
Tia Xu: How does your cultural background influence your art?
Wonchul Ryu: My family experiences through three generations affect my work to dig into the meaning of human relationships and community. Like most Asia counties, Korea also has a long history related to violence, especially in the modern era. Both my grandparents experienced the Korean War, and my parents grew up under military dictatorships. Fortunately, my generation has fewer violent experiences. However, transgenerational experiences of violence still affect daily life in both domestic and social ways. These experiences in Korea led me to think about the meaning of understanding people, communicating, and building communities.
ABOUT OPEN CALL EXHIBITION PROGRAM
Bridge Arts Foundation's "Beyond Borders" Open Call Exhibition Installation View, Photo: © The Scholart Selection / Luna Hao
Bridge Arts Foundation's Open Call Exhibition Program is designed to provide support for early-career artists. For its inaugural edition, the "Beyond Borders" Open Call Exhibition has thoughtfully selected 18 talented artists from a pool of approximately 350 submissions, employing a selection process that involves art professionals. "Beyond Borders" opens from October 14th to December 31st, 2023.
ABOUT ARTIST
Wonchul Ryu
Wonchul Ryu (류 원철) (Korean, b. 1995) is a visual artist based in Seoul, Korea, and Baltimore, Maryland. His work is a process of understanding situations, spaces, and emotions that are invisible, unheard, and unnamable but still can be felt. Since he moved to the United States, he has expanded his artwork in general experiences as an Asian from personal experiences in Korea. He is continuing his artistic career in the BFA program at the Maryland Institute College of Art.