For Make Room’s booth at Kiaf Seoul, Guimi You wants to visually explore the gardens and roads she saw on her daily walks to and from her studio when she lived in California. You’s practice was deeply inspired by her experiences on these daily voyages: frequently, on the way to her studio, it was early morning when no one was awake, and on the way back home she would traverse the roads alone in the darkness of night when no one was on the street. Occasionally, it would be sunset, and the sky would be beautifully aflame with color. As You walked alone along the road “the quiet gardens, the sun, and the moon always seemed to be serene.” During her journeys to and from her studio, it was those “quiet gardens, the sun, and the moon that were (her) only havens and inspiration.” You attempts to recall those moods and to “remember those feelings” through her luminous, brightly pigmented canvases. You’s practice is indebted to and informed by both her background in traditional Western oil painting and her training in traditional Korean painting methods, or San-su hwa. The painting Nextdoor captures the sunset view from the second floor of the artist’s apartment that she enjoyed upon returning home from the journeys to her studio. You speaks to her fascination with capturing the natural world through painting, as “nature is fluid and constantly evolving, so (she doesn’t) believe there is a need to portray them as static and immovable…this perception of nature has led (her) to develop a style of painting that may appear dream-like to the viewer.” You’s dreamlike, vibrantly colored paintings examine her lived experiences of the modern world through the lens of magical realism and influences of surrealism.
