Artist Statement_Final draft

Art statements (3rd draft)

Ben Lee (Min Hyung Lee)
Sep, 23, 2007

My mother and father were teachers in Korea and they tried to give us many different experiences. Even though I was not familiar with art and I was little, they took me to ballet performances and galleries to show new worlds to me. One thing that I could remember was a Picasso exhibition. This exhibition gave me a strong impression about Picasso, even though I was only 13. And also this influence of my parents seemed to make my sister and I push into the field of design.

I am a person with a great desire who always wants to try many experiences and never passes on new opportunities. This personality trait led me to have interests in other areas besides my major, chemical engineering. Moreover, my inquisitive nature prompted me to ask endless questions and to be motivate to research and this passion led me to enroll in graduate school.

During my university life, I was fascinated by traditional architectural styles through exploring Korean cultural locations as an extracurricular activity. Traditional architecture employs very informal, natural landscapes with emphasis on the use of the natural elements such as stone, sand, plants, and water, and Koreans tend to attach special meaning to the natural surroundings. Their architecture has also been affected by Eastern religious thoughts such as Taoism, Confucianism, and especially Buddhism. They never considered a place good enough for a building of any type unless it commanded an appropriate view of “mountains and water.” Thus I gained the lesson that Architecture is not against nature; rather architecture assimilates into nature through activity. In addition, Korea employs unique and practical use of space harmonized with surrounding nature. This gave me the motivation to pursue my interest in space design.

After completing graduate school, I spent my mandatory military service period working in a food technology laboratory. My job was to visit various commercial spaces for marketing surveys, such as cafes, restaurants, and hotels to develop new products. Whenever I went to do marketing surveys, I was fascinated by the different design and lighting of each place. And I found interior design is not just decoration or ornament in space but can make purchasing power. Moreover, my business trips to Japan offered me a stimulus to learn about other cultures and increased my curiosity about the commercial interior design of Japan.

After I finished mandatory military service period, I decided to study interior design in New York because there is potential for me to learn about ideas that may not be popular or common in Korea. Studying in New York, which has assumed the role of nurturing pioneers in design, will offer me a valuable foundation to be an interior designer and I believe it will be a turning point in my life.

I would like to create new space design by combining Western practical designs with Korean traditional designs that emphasize natural harmony. In other words, I would like to create designs that can break the boundaries of nature and inner space and have practical utility. This means houses or buildings are not just an artificial mass pushed into the beauty of nature, but those structures should be the resting places that don’t spoil nature. Thus, designers should think about harmony with nature and the environment.
So, I want to design space without the border of inside and outside, nature and interior space. This design would attract one’s eye into interior wall along the exterior space.

Moreover, I am fascinated by various space designs such as commercial, religious and residential spaces. Particularly, houses are places where we spend the most time and houses are spaces that can be changed depending on the resident’s individual preferences. The image of a house that a designer tries to create is a house that gives comfort to the mind. I think the role of natural lighting is the most important aspect of interior design because it fosters warmth and sensitivity. While the role of artificial lighting is important, in order to make a space comfortable and harmonize it with nature, one needs to utilize natural lighting.


Sang's feedback

Try to make a strong conclusion. The current statement sounds incomplete.