State Of The Arts

Harmony Within Lives

By Carrie Smoot

As Sunhee Kim Jung prepared for Towson University’s Asian Arts & Culture Center (www.towson.edu/asianarts) show, timing coincided with the start of her 15-week semester at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) and the beginning of school for her sons, 11 and 13.

“Balancing my artistic career, teaching and family is challenging, but family comes first. My husband, Anthony, and our sons are supportive of my work,” she says. “They are very accepting that I paint anywhere in the house—not just my studio—when I get inspired,” she says, chuckling. Jung is waiting to hear about getting a larger space at the Maryland Hall for Creative Arts (www.mdhallarts.org).

She’s happy teaching color theory and is qualified to teach painting and drawing. “I learn so much doing it, and I study a couple of hours each night. I teach different painting styles, as well as mixing colors.”

“I started out studying religious philosophy at Catholic University but then discovered art and was encouraged by professors to pursue it in art school. That led to the Corcoran College of Art+Design. When I graduated in 1994, I married and had kids. The art career was put aside. Seven years later, I applied to American University’s MFA program. I loved being a teaching assistant. I knew I’d be an art professor someday,” she says.

“Sunhee is popular with students. They like her very much and respond to her well,” says Rick Malmgren, associate professor and chair, visual arts and humanities at AACC. “The student work displayed is impressive,” he says.

Malmgren wrote the Harmony Within Lives catalog introduction. “The more you look, the more you see and can respond to. Her work is contemporary, with abstract qualities. She takes everyday objects and makes them her own.”

Jung is one of six faculty members in “Special Projects: AACC Visual Arts Faculty Exploring New Terrain,” running from November 10 through December 10 at the John A. Cade Center for Fine Arts Gallery. For this, she expanded her “Born Heroes” series to 20 paintings. The opening reception is November 13 from 6 to 8 p.m.

“I was a fan of superhero comics. All kids are fans of heroes coming to save the day. That isn’t always the reality. ‘Born Heroes’ represents the never-ending hope for humanity …. Every new life gives us hope that keeps us going,” she says. Additions include Superman, Aquaman, Robin, Iron Fist, Hawk and Zatanna.

“I love to paint large pieces. I feel so free and limitless,” she says. “I usually paint on canvas or linen and sometimes burlap. When I create texture, as in ‘Vase and Denim,’ I’ll use sand, clay or other materials. I usually use oil but will also use acrylic to achieve a matted finish. The brush varies to achieve different strokes. I start painting directly, without an outline. This allows me freedom to express more accurately what I want to paint. Color is the most important [thing] in my paintings. [It] … creates harmony.”

Jung’s November 2007 solo show, “Harmony Within Lives,” took place at Rockville’s Glenview Mansion Art Gallery (www.rockvillemd.gov/glenview). “It’s beautiful, with a wonderful gallery upstairs, and it was perfect for my large paintings,” she says.
Julie Farrell, Glenview curator, said Jung’s paintings resonated with gallery visitors of all ages. “Her paintings are amazing! Everybody was a little taken aback at first because they didn’t know what to expect. Their size and colors make you want to live in the fantasy world she has created. Each leaf and flower is finished perfectly,” she says. Farrell loved the lighting in each painting. Her favorite, “Inseparable Love,” depicted intertwined bird of paradise flowers. “Jung’s work is captivating,” Farrell says. “We’d love to have her back.”

“Living in Harmony” is not a picture of a rare blue tropical flower but of the sun forming angled shadows on the green leaves of garden plants, turning them different colors and offering shade and calm. Jung says “Bleeding Heart” was originally meant to have all green leaves. “I watched ‘The Passion of the Christ.’ [While] I was painting, I was reminded of the brutality, and I started crying. I couldn’t get the image of so much blood spilled out of my mind.” For “Leaves,” she paired leaves with human veins.

“Originally, I painted a lot of tropical flowers and plants,” Jung says. “Those exotic images took me away to an oasis. People ask me [their] names, but in many cases I don’t know. The names aren’t important, [but] images and feelings are,” she says.

When Corcoran painting professor Tom Green met Jung, he knew she was a high-craft painter. “She painted lush, vegetative landscapes with great skill,” he says. “She could have painted flowers and plants for the rest of her life, but we like to push students conceptually. As she moved forward, she added objects—baskets, fetuses and more. That gave her the quirky and eccentric quality we look for. You see her work across the room, think you know what it is, and then say, ‘What’s that?’ when you move closer,” Green says.

“My paintings express beauty and wonder in everything, even in death, because in reality there is so much ugliness and sadness. Death itself is not beautiful, but death is part of the life cycle. Life is precious, so therefore we should see all the beauty in life,” she says.

“Hidden Behind” was the image of her X-ray, taken when she experienced some pelvic joint pain. “When I saw this for the first time, it was a shocking reminder of my hysterectomy. I felt empty and incomplete. I felt compelled to complete myself again, so I painted the baby. I felt I was showing too much of myself, so I covered most of the image,” she explains. “Hidden Behind II” and “Revealed” followed.

“Being with child was so beautiful in the first two paintings, I felt this was an image people should see, so I have less covering. I often wondered what it would be like having a little girl so I used softer purple and pink,” she says.

Jung came to the United States in her 20s. A naturalized citizen, she often features her Korean heritage in her work. She’s active in Asian arts groups, with a July 2009 solo exhibit in Seoul. Her work appears this fall in Vienna, Austria, and in December 2009 at a biennial art exhibit in Florence, Italy. Four works are on loan at the American Embassy in Rangoon, Burma.

“Rest in Peace” features a centuries-old Asian basket for harvesting and carrying. “A few centuries ago, this basket carried dying parents into the wilderness to be left alone with a couple of days of food rations to leave this world in peace. Past trials have taken [their] toll. The baskets helped me regain strength and victory. As I paint, I unload all my burdens onto [them], and I am liberated. It brings me joy. I’m reminded of lost loved ones’ faded faces. [I’m] reminded of new lives that enter my life,” Jung says.

Web site: www.sunheekimjung.com

January 28–February 27, 2009: “An Art Exchange: Korea/Maryland,” featuring Korean artists.
Anne Arundel Community College, International Exchange Art Association of Seoul, Korea and AACC Art Faculty. Reception: January 30, 2009, from 6 to 8 p.m.

June 2009: “An Art Exchange: Maryland/Korea” with work by AACC art faculty and Maryland artists in Seoul, Korea at Sook Myung Woman University from June 15-21, and then at the Hai Tai Gallery from June 27-27.

March 19-April 28, 2009: Korean-American Art Association at the Manassas Center for the Arts in Manassas, VA.

Carrie Smoot is a Northern Virginia freelance writer.