FLOW series
Feel alive and embrace it all as you FLOW through life's mysterious journey 2005 ~
The Flow represents the transitional movement of feelings and experiences throughout my life: joy, love, sorrow, courage, fear, pain, accidents, diseases, death, friendships, family, faith and hope. Life is always in a state of flux. I have learned to take each day as it flows. We cannot stop or control this movement; we recognize and adapt as we live it. All of us face challenges with weakness of our mind, body and spirit. If we are fortunate, new opportunities arise to liberate us. We begin again. This is the gift of life - to recognize that it flows.
Contrasting shades and textures characterize The Flow paintings. Dark shades symbolize the struggles of life and the light shades contain a sense of hope - the potential path to a more positive future. Metallic colors represent my identity. My father spent over 30 years in the metal business. His research lab inspired me to use metallic colors, and they symbolize a positive energy that flows through me. I find it intriguing that an artist’s emotions can be personalized through the heart of each viewer. This is my intention with The Flow.
Cercle de Mémoire HOPE series
In Korean, my name Yuni (=Yun 둥글+뭉칠윤,륜) means circular, round, and unity. I absolutely love my name and the significance that it holds for me as a woman and an artist. Since I was a little girl, I’ve collected anything with a circular shape; round edges always comfort me. The shape of the circle connects to my heart. During my recent travels, the organic rounded shapes of old European roads, buildings, walls, and bridges ignited my artistic soul. Inspiration came flooding over me and I saw myself, Yuni, connected to the circles: the ancient stones, sun, earth, and moon. My female identity, personal history and world history felt united in a flash of recognition and deep insight. Positive emotion flows through my “Memories of Circle” series. Metallic colours are significant because they infuse me with strength and represent my identity. Texture and the layers of bright colours are my happy memories shining through. Each stone represents a positive connection These memories convey a peaceful energy, and give me power to overcome hardship. My spirit of gratitude emerges through harmonious circular strokes. Bright continuous lines represent heartfelt connections and balance. Peace in my relationships is very important to my spirit. I find it intriguing that an artist’s emotions can be communicated to the heart of a viewer, and that is my intention.HOPE I HOPE II HOPE III 2015 ~
At the heart of my work is the recognition that emotions flow and life itself is in a constant state of flux. I painted Hope I and Hope II in response to the news story of a 3-year-old boy named Aylan Kurdi, who died during a treacherous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to escape war-torn Syria. For me, he represents all children around the world who must endure war and harsh environments. The paintings express my emotional journey through deep sadness, guilt, questioning, empathy, and ultimately, to a sense of hope. I care about the children who suffer and I believe that our caring unites us in our humanity. All children deserve to be happy and healthy and there is hope for this future.
PAST Collections / Studies
More images of SOLD paintings will be posted !
In my past artwork, I closely observed the natural world, objects, people and places, and also explored my own reactions to the subject matter. I enjoyed exploring many different styles and techniques. I was always interested in change; this change includes myself. The powerful influence of constant change gives rise to what is new and different. I employed techniques of traditional perspective and composition. I also transformed the original subject in order to present a new way of seeing - my own perspective that combines external reality with internal interpretation. HEARTSEASE - PEACE OF MIND
"Heartsease-Prayer Flag Song” - Music by Abi Rooley-Towle
This piece was inspired by Abi Rooley-Towle’s music. While making art in the middle of the night, I felt the negative shadow of anxiety and suffering in this horrible Covid-19 moment. While listening to Abi’s music and reading her lyrics, I suddenly felt a peaceful voice of light and hope. I experienced a wonderful feeling while creating this work. The music made the moment, turning my inner emotions from dark to light, just like her song lyrics. The music transformed my mood and I was peaceful and meditative when the song ended. I was overcome with the power of understanding our right to be happy and healthy spiritually in any situation. I used the colors of soft and strong red with a touch of shinning gold. These colors symbolize positive luck in Asian culture. They symbolize my identity and a positive energy that flows through me and out into the world. I find it fascinating that my emotions, expressed through art, can be personalized in the heart of each viewer.
"COVID-19" The Solidarity for All 2020 -
I believe this difficult virus put us in a terrible situation, but Covid-19 is not here to scare us. It is here to awaken us. The earth spoke but we didn’t listen. The earth cried out for attention with massive flooding, wildfires, strong hurricanes, and terrifying tornados. We still didn’t listen as ocean creatures die due to pollutants in the water, glaciers melt and severe drought devastates life. With our non-stop greed and non-stop wars, we just keep going on with our lives. We have been too selfish and self-important to hear what the earth is trying to tell us.
We can stop and feel the earth; I say this to my family and friends and to anyone viewing this work. Covid-19 brought us anxiety, sickness and death. Yet the quarantine time also taught us to stop and consider what we cherish, to unite with family and help and care for each other. We co-operated and stayed home, we checked that others were well and workers on the frontlines were amazing. Worldwide air pollution got better, and rural animals were wandering around cities. Bad is not always bad. Good is not always good. I believe the two alternate in our lives. This terrible virus awakened us to take care, feel, re-think and understand what is around us. I care about the earth and those who suffer, and I believe that our caring unites us in our humanity. All of nature, animals and humans, deserve to be happy and healthy and there is hope for our future.
Contrasting shades and textures characterize my work. Dark shades symbolize the struggles of life. Light shades represent the potential path to a more positive future. My father worked in the metal business and his research lab inspired me to use metallic colors. They symbolize my identity and a positive energy that flows through me and out into the world. I find it intriguing that my emotions, expressed through art, can be personalized in the heart of each viewer.
Y U N I K O
Copyright Yuni Ko Art. All rights reserved.
One HEART + One LOVE 2020-
The Solidarity for All – Yuni Ko (GROUP collage art, 54 participants)
58 x 50, 148 x 153 cm
One HEART+ One LOVE of Solidarity speaks of positivity and finding strength together. This collage-style artwork was created by 54 participants, including my students, family and friends - ages 2-years-old to 78-years-old - from around the world in Canada, USA, South Korea, Japan, China, Germany, France and UK. Each participant has a different voice, colour, and perspective and these individual differences create great beauty when they are united. All the mini artworks are unique and carry positive, strong messages. I collected all the pieces and put them together to show how united voices can become more powerful. In One HEART+ One Love” of solidarity, we speak out together about our love for the earth, humanity, equality, peace, health, education and justice.
For this artwork, it was very important for me to find connection in some way, even as we were quarantined at home and separated from each other. When the WCA announced the Solidarity for All theme, I asked them to make their original small artworks and send them to me by mail, to my home porch or email if they are overseas. I wished for them to continue to find ways to do positive things. This is what I believe in: spreading more joy and beauty to one another. It was a wonderful feeling to be united in one project, especially when we could not be together in person. It was such a great meditation to receive the pieces and then create something beyond what I could make as an individual artist.
I chose the heart shape for the final assembly because this symbol is important to me for this project. For each collected art, I chose the different coloured papers for each artwork which symbolizes World citizens around the world. Then all together, I wanted to show all 54 participant’s beautiful hearts in one heart shape. I used recycled materials with homemade glue from rice flour. Then I put metallic colour and the powder. Gold symbolizes positive energy in my culture and symbolize my identity and a positive energy that flows through me and out into the world. I find it intriguing that my emotions, expressed through art, can be personalized in the heart of each viewer.
Participants
Moon Teresa Ko, Sue Foerster, Shirley Scoble, Julia Kane, Diana Li, Tiffany Lee, Shaneen Upal, Minji Kim, Abi Rooley-Towle, Tam Rooley-Towle, Mooah Choi, Chloe Garcia, Daniel Kim, Carson Ban, Lisa Ban, James Ban, Fiorella Jiménez, Lauren Virapen, Carla Virapen, Karen Shim, Monica Vallejo, Easton Aw, Lillian Wei, Sarah Colangelo, Josephine Cho, Teresa Cho,
Christina Kavouris, Andrea Mascan, Briana Mascan, Michelle Wang, Chloe Wang, Kai Jung, Daina Ramezani, Florence Shin, Scarlett Shin, Esther Han, Ryan Han, Grace Sun, Nakita Satira,
James Satira, Michael Satira, Emery T., Audrick T., Victor T., Jihyun Lim, Serin Kim, Jaden Arnold, Frederick Seo, Claire Seo, Hyun Tim Kim, Yerin Lynn Kim, Yoon Jung, Kathy R.,
Song Ryan Moon, Daniel Oh
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