Dappled brushwork, delicate hues, and cloisonne-like textures dance across the surfaces of Anna Jung Seo’s portraits, still lives and landscapes. The London-based Korean painter creates transportive images sourced from her real life interactions on the city’s streets.
A contemporary flaneur, Seo is an acute observer of everyday life.“My paintings developed out of an interest in the intimate moments of people, which unveil the different layers of human relationships. I am fascinated by the way in which emotions and vulnerability of life can be dramatised into intimate or even awkward moments. I try to convey the vulnerability of people by capturing intense moments within a small-scale. I believe that these small moments are, though ephemeral, strong enough to show the fragmented truth of life.” — Anna Jung Seo
Colour acts as both an emotion and a compositional form in Seo’s process. She possesses a distinct vocabulary made up of brushy strokes, colour washes, and shapes that transform across the picture plane, a technique which recalls Post-Impressionists such as Pierre Bonnard and Eduard Vuillard, creating meticulous, psychologically-charged fields of colour.
Oil on canvas
30 x 25 x 6 cm
11 3/4 x 9 7/8 x 2 3/8 in