My engagement with painting began in childhood in South Korea, where drawing and painting were among my earliest fascinations. Since then, I have continued that engagement through ongoing studio practice, study, and training. I pursued both science and art seriously during my high school years and chose to study science in college, driven by a curiosity about how the world works at an atomic and molecular level. Over time, however, I became interested in understanding how larger systems emerge from those underlying interactions. Seeking a more integrated view of the world, I eventually moved into investment management, where I spent over two decades studying the dynamics of markets, institutions, and human behavior. Throughout those years, painting remained a constant and increasingly important part of my life.
Looking back, I now see science, finance, and painting as different ways of pursuing the same inquiry into how complex systems evolve and interact. What compelled me to shift to painting full time was its capacity to hold ambiguity, contingency, contradiction, and different ways of knowing simultaneously—from empirical observation and systems thinking to material experience and intuition. Unlike disciplines that often require questions to be narrowed in order to be investigated, or to be resolved into an actionable answer within a particular time frame, painting allows relationships, contradictions, and unanswered questions to remain open and in dialogue with one another. That is why I ultimately chose the studio over the laboratory or the trading desk as the site of my inquiry.
Education:
Art & Visual Training:
Lifetime Member, Art Students League of New York, 1998 - Present
Calligraphy Studies, China Institute in America, New York, 2006-2010
Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, Bucknell University, 1987
Science & Finance Training:
CFA Charter Holder, 1997
A.B. Biochemical Sciences, Harvard University, 1992
Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 1986
Honors:
Merit Scholarship, Art Students League of New York
Selected Group Exhibitions:
Art Students League of NY, New York, NY
Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
Community Exhibitions:
John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY