Dot

A 'point', which exists but has nothing, has no way to visually express its existence. This is because no matter how fine a tool is, the moment it is drawn with a material, it becomes a 'plane with parts'. Therefore, a point drawn in my drawing is merely representation of the point, not a real point. Since it has no size, no direction, and no movement, a point is a 'void', and only open possibilities exist. Since it exists in the state of 'None', it became a self-contained being, but there is no way to prove by itself. Only its traces can be inferred as coordinate values. The representation of points has a shape of dots in my drawing. So, I draw dots on the grid. The grid, a rectangle or a circle drawn on paper, can be understood as a window frame toward the world. It is the only area that I can draw my dots, and that all the possibilities can come true.

I repeat dots till the grid is filled. Thousands of dots. By repeating the 'representation of dots', the meaning of the point I intended to convey evaporates, leaving only the amount of my labor to complete a piece of work. In this way, my dots reach the status of 'void' ironically. The viewers indulge only the artist's labor, forgetting the metaphor of the dots.

Day

A day is the amount of time that takes for the earth, which orbits around the sun, to revolve itself. A day is divided into twenty-four pieces, and each piece is further divided into sixty smaller pieces. These fragmented times are intertwined and connected again to make a day of life. Days repeat. As long as the sun does not lose its light, as long as the earth does not give up its rotation, days will repeat forever. We, however, meet the end of the day before we even finish to put all the fragments of time together. A day is always incomplete, leaving frustration and fatigue.

What if the sun sets, but the day still goes on until all the pieces of time are put together. Wouldn't it make my day wonderful? If I could define the boundaries of days like this, wouldn't I be able to confess on my last day that my life was fulfilled? Even before God created the sun and the earth, a 'day' existed. When God completed the work he had planned and rested, He called it a day. I thought it would be nice if my day was like that. So I started to call 'a day' when a drawing is finished. The drawing series that started with 'Day One' has now reached 'Day Sixty'. I have lived sixty days so far. I don't know how many more days I can live. I embrace all joy, sorrow, and pain within the boundaries of the day I drew. So, every day I draw is a perfect day, and they are all identical in a way.

Counting

As an introvert and timid girl, I was also slow to make friends. During my lunch breaks, I would go out to the playground and draw a small circle in the corner. Then, sat down inside the circle and watched my friends running and playing. It was a safe place, and it was my own space. What did I do in that small space separated from the world? I can't remember because I was too young, but I think I might have drawn something on the ground, or collected tiny pebbles to make shapes. I got bored, and started counting. There was no clock, and I was too young to estimate the amount of time empirically. Wondering how many numbers I had to count until the bell rang, I played the counting games.

Counting was a waiting and fluttering moment for me as a child. I punctiliously counted the number of nights left for my birthday. My mother used to scold me for counting grains of rice, but in fact, I counted spoons, three more spoons to be dismissed. While waiting for mom back home, I played counting games all day alone. As I counted, my mother was sure to return. It was a small number, but sometimes a very big number for a young child to count.

I start my drawing with border lines of a rectangle or a circle on a blank paper. And fill it with countless dots. The border line drawn with a hard pencil separates me from the world. It is my personal space, and it is also the window I made towards the world. Of course, I didn't think about the childhood experience when I started this body of work. It was rather recently that the small circle on the playground and the counting games suddenly came into my mind. I only draw dots within the borders. That is the only place where 'I' am allowed. However, when I draw with pencils for days, the pencil dust blows away and settles down outside the boundary. And as my hands pass by while drawing, they leave traces. As if the wishful minds, sitting alone in a small circle and waiting for my friends to call me by name, were blown out of the boundary... And as if the unexpected childhood memories dust down on my drawings.

Erin Chon

Erin Chon, a drawer/painter, works on paper. She draws a grid of a rectangle or a circle and fills it with small dots. Through this repetitive labor of drawing dots, she wants to visualize the amount of time. The time she explores is not a linear structure of past-present-future, but time as a mass with weight. The mass of time she records in her drawing is the time she spends in her studio for work. She is trying to find a balance between the two forces, the 'time of daily life' (undrawn), and the 'time of art' (drawn). Currently, she lives and works in a studio located in Seoul. She received a BFA in Fine Arts from Seoul National University and an MFA in Fine Arts from the University of Iowa. She has exhibited her work in numerous solo and group exhibitions and also through social media.

erinyschon@gmail.com

Education

The University of Iowa, 2007-2009 - MFA (major in Drawing and Painting, minor in Printmaking) School of Art and Art History

The University of Alabama, 2005-2007 - MA (Sculpture), Department of Fine Arts

The University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1995-1996 - Graduate program (Metalworking), Department of Fine Arts

Seoul National University, 1994 - Graduate program, School of Fine Arts

Seoul National University, 1990 - BFA (Design) School of Fine Arts

 Residency Program

 Vermont Studio Center with Artist Grant Award. 1/2/2011~1/28/2011 

Exhibitions and Competitions

“Identical Days” Solo Exhibition - 12/21/2021 ~ 2/4/2022, Gallery Sogongheon, Seoul

“Hours” Solo Exhibition - 2/15/2020 ~ 2/27/2020, MK Gallery, Virginia, USA

“Recording/Drawing II” Solo Exhibition - 6/3/2019 ~ 6/16/2019, Gallery The Folk, Seoul

“Recording/Drawing I” Solo Exhibition - 4/19/2019 ~ 4/30/2019, Ye-Sool-Ga-Bang: Kunst One, Seoul

“Artistic Records: Art as a Record of the Emotional Past” Group Show w/ Selected Artists - 6/1/2018 ~ 6/28/2018, Korea Culture Center, Washington D.C., USA

“Pop-up, Pop-up Show” Group Exhibition, Curated by Erin Chon - 4/6/2018 ~ 4/15/2018, 10176 Baltimore National Pike, Maryland, USA

“Wings Bestowed On The Wingless Birds” Collaborative Work with Hyom Kang - 8/2015 DMC Gallery, Seoul

“Serial Relations” Works on Paper Group show - 3/26~6/8/2014 Peninsula Museum of Art, San Francisco

“Do-Do” Group show - 12/2013 Gallery P1, Seoul

“Drawing + Chair” Collaborative Exhibition with Sang-Kyu Kim - 4/2013 DMC Gallery, Seoul

“Artspital : Healing Project 2012” - 5/2012 Samchangdong Gallery (Popup), Seoul

“R.E.S.P.E.C.T” - 2/2012 ~ 3/2012 Peter Paul Luce Gallery, Cornell College, Iowa

The Exhibition for IUI & Broken Shop - Group Show - 11/2011 Kunstdoc Gallery, Changsungdong, Seoul, S.Korea

The Inaugural Exhibition for the International University of Imagination - 10/2011 Gallery Space 15, Tongindong, Seoul, S.Korea

“Drawing Party - Tell Me More” - Oct. 1st~ 7th 2011, Metro Gallery in Gwangju, S. Korea - Sponsored by Gwangju Branch of Korea Fine Arts Association

"Other i's?"  Collaboration with John Engelbrecht (photograph) - 6/2011 TimesClub at Prairie Light Bookstore, Iowa City, IA

"We Never Fall Apart; We Never Fall Together" Painting Group Show - 1/2011, Eva Drewelowe Gallery, Iowa City, IA

"Hannah", Poetry and Painting - Group Show - 2010, The Burford Gallery, Iowa City, IA

"Domestic Games-Part II" Solo Show - 12/2009~1/2010, The BS Gallery, Iowa City, IA

“Displacement”-Group Show - 7/2009, Quad City Airport Gallery, Rock Island, IL

MFA Show - 5/2009, Studio Arts Gallery, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

“Domestic Games”-Drawings by Youngsoon Chon: Solo Show - 4/2009, Burford Gallery, Iowa City, IA

The 16th Annual Juried Show 2008-MacRostie Art Center - 8/2008, MacRostie Gallery, Grand Rapids, MN

2008 National Juried Competition: Works of Art on Paper - 7/2008 Long Beach Island Foundation, Long Beach Township, NJ

Des Moines Art Center’s Iowa Artists 2008: Drawing-Juried - 4/2008~8/2008, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA

The 42nd Galex International Juried Show - 3/2008, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL

“Tic Tac Toe” Recent Drawings-Solo Show - 2/2008, Eve Drewelowe Gallery, Iowa City, IA

The Korean Student Art Show-‘Moon’ - 10/2007, Art Building West Gallery, University of Iowa, IA

The 1st Loyola National Works on Paper-Juried - 7/2007, Crown Center Gallery, Loyola University, Chicago, IL

The 2nd All Media National Juried Exhibition (ANJE II) - 6/2007, 621 Gallery, Tallahassee, FL

Master of Art Thesis Exhibition - 3/2007, Woods Hall Gallery, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

The 20th McNeese National Works on Paper-Juried - 3/2007, Abercrombie Gallery, Lake Charles, LA

The Student Show-Juried, Best in Show - 3/2007, Woods Hall Gallery, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

Drawing on Alabama-Juried - 1/2007, Biggin Gallery, Auburn University, Auburn, AL

It came from Tuscaloosa-Graduate student show - 11/2006, Huntingdon College Art Gallery, Montgomery, AL

The Student Show-Juried - 10/2005, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL

The Down East Sculpture Exhibition-Juried, Second Place Award - 10/2005, East Carolina University, NC

Le Petite XII – Juried - 11/2004~1/2005, Alder Gallery, Coburg, OR

Seoul National University Alumni Exhibition - 4/2002, Do-San Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Talismans/SNAG-Juried - 5/1999, Washington University’s Gallery of Art, St. Louis, MO

Student Award Show-Juried - 5/1996, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI

Bags and Baggage-Juried - 3/1996, Arrowmont, Gatlinburg, TN

Art in Daily Life - 5/1994, Fusion Gallery, Seoul, Korea

BFA Show - 12/1993, The Art Gallery, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea

Awards

The 8th Annual S&AM Art Materials Competition - Second Place Award - 4/2009, University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

The 16th Annual Juried Show 2008-MacRostie Art Center - First Place Award - 8/2008, MacRostie Gallery, Grand Rapids, MN

The 20th McNeese National Works on Paper-Juried - The Juror's Mention Award - 3/2007, Abercrombie Gallery, Lake Charles, LA

The Student Show-Juried - Best in show - 3/2007, The University of Alabama, AL

The Down East Sculpture Exhibition-Juried - Second Place Award - 10/2005, East Carolina University, NC

Thames Fellowship, The University of Alabama - 2005~2006, Department of Fine Arts

Graduate Fellowship, Seoul National University - 1994, Department of Fine Arts

Undergraduate Merit Scholarship, Seoul National University - 1992, 1993, 1994, School of Fine Arts

Publications

2010 hannah(han'na)n., curated and edited by Andrew D. Moeller

2008 Iowa Artists 2008 Drawing by curator, Amy N. Worthen