On the journey from representation to abstraction, I spend all day in a 66 m2 studio, drawing a stroke on white rice paper. I call the island where I am, Jang-do, the island that opens and closes depending on the tides. The process of visualizing the invisible is realized by the stroke I draw based on the daily interactions between the weather and my mood—like an everyday drawing diary. The way it floats from material to energy and vice versa looks just like the island.

A certain realism exists in a deeper place than the sea. The color of the sea seen from Jang-do brings back ineffable friendly memories. We still hurt and are hurt by each other for various reasons, such as being different, being uncomfortable, or disliking others. However, there is an unchangeable fact: no matter how much we fight and hate each other, we must exist together on that little “heart.”

The sea is home for islanders; fear and hope of isolation coexist for them. The same is true in our daily lives. Regardless of whether we are a person or an island, we all live with untold stories and traces in our hearts. When I call myself by the name of the island, my painting becomes the light that pours out of the broken part of life and the color that heals me. Let us name and call islands with a stroke and make them a reason for existence. Let us comfort fragile human hearts with ten thousand strokes.

I wake up colors with my eyes and heart. Only when I breathe in the weather, memories, emotions, and hopes does blue wake up. After dozens of strokes, the blue becomes thicker. Then, I start to realize that there is another me beyond consciousness, waiting for the blue. When day and night—light and darkness—meet, blue becomes sensitive, gradually calming down and deepening.

White paper and canvas are like my heart. They are important vessels that can contain everything above the sky and below the sea. I draw strokes on the paper and write and erase words on the canvas to create the color of healing, hoping to receive mercy from the heavens.

Colors are most beautiful when they are combined with other colors. However, they do not know that. I want to see all the colors in the world. Hoping to have eyes and a heart that can see them, I change the colors on the paper and the canvas dozens of times. When everything goes dark, the colors in my heart finally awake. Finding blue by breaking my complex mind is my duty.

Are the colors in the world as beautiful as I imagine? We live on the land between the blue sky and the sea. Because we are always surrounded by beautiful blue, we often pass by it without noticing it. Our lives are the same. People around me take things for granted and do not appreciate their value. However, they are also precious beings.

Salvation—it is not too far. Now is the time to open our wings. The dazzling blue that we have all been waiting for for half of our lives finally awakes. Perhaps our hearts can see a more splendid blue than our eyes.