I have always known I am a painter at heart, though the path to becoming one was far from linear. Growing up in South Korea, my earliest memories are of drawing and coloring—sometimes even on the kitchen walls. I also studied calligraphy as a child, and the rhythm and discipline of that practice continue to influence my work today. Immigrating to the U.S. as a teenager, I chose to study biochemistry in college, driven by intense curiosity about how the cosmos works at molecular and atomic levels. While I enjoyed science, I found its approach too reductionist and began to seek a more integrated understanding of the world. That search led to a 26-year career in investment management, where I earned my CFA in 1997 and developed a layered approach to analyzing complex systems. During those years, I studied abstract art at the Art Students League of New York in the evenings and on weekends, gradually weaving creative practice back into my life.
I have come full circle: having left finance behind, I have been painting full time since 2020. Over time, I have also come to see that the boundary between science, art and finance is more permeable than rigid. The precision of scientific observation, the gestural sensibility of calligraphy and the nonlinear thinking needed to navigate the interconnected financial systems all inform how I now approach painting—as a process of experimentation, discovery, and resonance with deep patterning of elemental forces that shape our world.
Education:
A.B. Biochemical Sciences, Harvard University '92
Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) '97
Exhibitions:
2025 Juried Exhibition, Vi Va La Vida 2025
2023 Annual Holiday Art Show, John Jermain Library, Sag Harbor, NY
2019 Annual Guild Hall Art Show, Guild Hall, East Hampton, NY
2018 Juried Exhibition (Merit Scholarship Recipient: Abstract Category), Art Students League of NY, New York, NY