Wonbhin Son

<City>, 2022.

This work is based in Suyu-dong, Gangbuk-gu, Seoul. Between mismatched roads and bustling bar alleys stands a temporary “IKEA” pop-up store. The music and furniture inside offer a sense of comfort, yet it is not a space meant for actual living. Each time the door opens and closes, the noise from the outside fades, and the city viewed from within appears only as a lingering afterimage. However, the moment one steps outside, the elements—each with its own pace and momentum—become vivid once again: trees of similar height lined up in a row, car headlights illuminating the night, people walking with different strides in sync with traffic signals, and even the path of a motorcycle that blurs the boundary between road and sidewalk. In the midst of all this, an artificial structure built for those in search of a “comfortable home” stands in contrast. In the process of creating this work, I utilized the actions of “scratching” and “peeling.” I first sketched the scene using masking fluid, then drew over it again using pen and acrylic paint. Though the same scene was layered multiple times, the second drawing significantly exceeded the boundaries of the initial masked areas. The peeled-off masking fluid leaves behind empty spaces, but the outlines surrounding them still retain their presence. I further blurred these boundaries by using sandpaper to scratch parts of the surface. These clear yet faint boundaries represent how I perceive the urban landscape. We place artificially designed nature on top of man-made conveniences. Street trees planted this way blend seamlessly into the cityscape, as if they had always belonged there. We pass quickly between them, seeking our own sense of comfort inside tall buildings and pursuing a more convenient life. Urban boundaries coexist so naturally that we often overlook them. Through this work, I aimed to express the ambiguous boundaries that exist in the city, and by reconstructing aspects of the modern urban environment, I raise questions about “the ground we stand on, the structures above it, and the unclear boundaries between them.”