▲ Artist Jeon Ju-hee

Human, nature and their relations
“Like the famous work title of French artist Paul Gaugin ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’, it is the same topic I throw on my works. I throw question about life and death and the time that delivers both. It is not the point to find the answer to this question but my focus lays on the question itself. My works, in this respect, are the depictions of my views on this question” says artist Jeon Ju-hee. Appreciating the works of Jeon, you can find detailed depiction in figures and nature. Nature for Jeon is a space that contains the meanings of life, death, time, vitality and their connections and marvelousness. Jeon’s representative work <Secret Garden – The Eternal Cycle> turns this world into a virtual garden where story of man and nature gets unveiled one by one; the black water symbolizes time; the child, adult and skull imply searching, hope, desire and an extinctive space. <A Red Woman>, on the other hand, symbolizes despair in showiness while <Mother and Daughter> a coexistence of generations in time but different space. <Depth of Ordeal> delivers human emotions through natural objects and <Dying in Destroyed> sends a message that an object affects another object with many different results, and this being expressed through various colors. It is also notable that the works <Reflection> expresses harmony between things in the world and <Secret Garden – Red Water> the creation and destruction of lives on the border of life and death, if you are to fully appreciate the works of Jeon. 

“Interest in nature, human, yearning and memories are the driving force of my creation” 
The series work <Time Door> is influenced by the Gaugin’s work aforementioned. From I to IV, this series work gives Jeon’s insight on time lapse through child to elderly of a family and their return to where they came from. Jeon is still looking for the answer to ‘Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?’ but the series encourages introspection about the question. “Each work has its own story and the whole series become one chronicle of a life when gathered together. I’ve finished the fourth work of the series and I’m planning to push it forward up to sixth or seventh to complete the whole series.” When asked what drives the creative energy, Jeon said “My interest in nature, human, yearning and memories. I intend to draw human but the human have no expressions or show emotions in my works. Instead, I create a space through natural objects to make them appear; it is a symbolic or metaphoric way to reveal relations between the two parties.” Jeon added “The natural objects in my works deliver preciousness of even a small plant if you carefully observe it and this way you might have a time to introspect things around us.” If you feel like you want throw a question like Gaugin, you had better expect the coming exhibitions of Jeon.