이상원

Bio

Hong-ik University College of Arts, Arts Management Major​

Adjunct professor of Duksung Women's University

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Solo

2023 TOBBA World, Choice Art Company, Seoul, Korea
          Blooming Garden, Choice Art Company, Seoul, Korea
          Happy New Story, Galleria Centercity, Cheonan, Korea

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Commission & Collaboration

2023 Art project with Galleria Centercity, Cheonan, Korea
2022 Art project with Galleria Centercity, Cheonan, Korea

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‘TOBBA World’

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TOBBA is an iconized features as a gear, composed of mobile phone signals. TOBBA delivers positive energy to people each other, who live with various identities such as race, religion, and gender around the world, by moving in the shape of a cogwheel and move harmoniously.

 

In TOBBA World, people around the world communicate each other using character codes that everyone uses every day in the digital age, even though they are different each other from languages and customs.

Cyun who has experienced both Korea and the U.S, tries to melt her motives which is inspired by her daily life with encountering various people and their unique culture, race, and religion. South Korea where she was born in is regarded as monoethnic country until her 20’s. The U.S. where she lived in after her 20’s is

composed of multiple cultures.

 

By sharing the stories of TOBBA, which contains individual histories, the artist interlocks with current people each other and living together in a space in Art Basel Miami. The artist will show not only individual features but also each country and the global world further. Therefore, viewers could accept the world brightly and comfortably regardless of discrimination of religion, gender, and culture.

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Mostly the U.S. is regarded as an open and lively country. The U.S is composed of people of different races, and they communicate each other and create synergy. “ WE ARE THE WORLD”, the title of the artist's exhibition and the world of her work, is also like the dynamic atmosphere of Miami. TOBBA, which is a cogwheel in the work, also transfers energy as it turns interlocking with each other. TOBBA was created in the daily life of an Cyun who lived and worked in the United States. The city of Greenville, South Carolina, where GE - an energy company that goes into aviation and ships - where the artist resided after her immigration, was full of people and companies related to engineering and global engineers. She was surrounded by engineering related friends and stuffs including saws, machines, and machinery drawings.

 

Through a change of thinking, Cyun gave a birth to the gray gears with her positive mindset and unique style of color. Because gears transmit power by meshing forces, they play a very important role in making a gas turbine, which is the heart of a power plant or an airplane engine. As much as it is, it is very important to accurately predict and diagnose for gas turbine not to fail this project, and also it is necessary to systematize periodic rest and inspection. The artist felt that the ecosystem of these gears was overlapped with today's modern people.

 

According to the artist, she felt sad when she heard the news that a huge fighter jet had crashed due to worn gears, and at the same time felt that every situation needed time to check in detail before a crisis. The artist insists that today's modern people are also tired of work like gears and their daily lives go faster, so they need to take time to check and look back on themselves to maintain a healthier life. It is surprised that her concept of work-life balance and self-screening has been generated from 20 years ago, after her immigration to the U.S since 1996. Furthermore, her works alludes to the artist's wish to make a better world by preparing for unpredictable situations such as today's climate change by cooperating in advance and creating synergy.

 

The face or expression of TOBBA is composed of digital image or text codes of the everyday expression used by modern people today.

TOBBA is consisting of punctuation marks or digital images. In the digital time today, the story of modern people exchanging positive energy with each other while moving harmoniously with various identities is expressed through digital images and character codes through TOBBA. Cyun hopes that TOBBA connects individuals and delivers new power to the world, where become a symbol of hope, rest, and healing for all of us.

 

Cyun is from the U.S and currently works and lives in Korea as a director. The artist plans to exhibit in the U.S, with combing Korean contents and art through her TOBBA.