Sunhee Joo

Artist Statement

I am a Christian Korean-American artist living in Los Angeles. I not only create digital images, printed on paper but I also use classical media such as watercolor, Chinese ink, pen and pencil.

Even though, I started with abstract art in the MFA program at UCLA, I am currently doing figurative work using digital media. I think digital media
enable my work to evolve quickly and are also better for the environment.

I enjoy the challenge of instilling feeling to an image. I aspire to capture poetic feeling in my artwork, rather than achieve technical perfection.
My subject matters are people, nature, and Biblical themes. The tone or hue of colors, arrangement of shapes, thickness or thinness of lines, textures,
or delicate facial expressions contribute to the mood or the feeling of an image. These feelings give life to my artwork.

I like to remember the joy I experienced in nature of my childhood in Korea. Mountains full of fragrant pine trees, sweet acacia blossoms, clear water
flowing in brooks and streams, shimmering rivers, golden fields at harvest time, fresh green rice paddies, cicadas wailing in summertime, fluttering little yellow butterflies and flitting dragon flies, flowery hills and snow covered landscapes are
unforgettable. I still love nature around me and often put it in my work.

My passion is to create poetic images that blend human emotion, nature, and Biblical themes in one harmonious and cohesive piece of art.