As a Korean American artist, my art mark-making, brushstrokes, shape-making, and expressive juxtaposition of color are a personal story under God's amazing grace through personal memories, the actions of the present, and the evolving vision of the future. In addition, I receive my life and artistic inspiration from the Book of Hebrews 11:3. "By faith, we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible."

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Therefore, the intuitive arrangement of abstraction and individual symbolic design images of dots, lines, shapes, forms, spaces, and colors are my essential artistic soil for the ground of canvas and paper. So, these unique abstract suggestive images are gradually and powerfully revealed in God's grace into the canvas and my life through a visible or invisible garden image of seeds, roots, flowers, fruits, dirt, rain, thunder, tears, blood, cross, rainbow, light, and human as a gardener.    

 

The theme of my work, “stone pillow, ladder, pillar,” is inspired by the story of Jacob in Genesis 28:11-19 in the Old Testament. The main keyword, ladder, connects stones and pillars. It implies geometrical structures and architectural aspects. Also, the ladder is the center of spirituality and a symbol connecting earth and Heaven. This ladder foreshadows Jesus in the New Testament (John 1:51). Hebrews 11:3 also inspired this exhibition's abstract and spiritual roots, which feature over 600 artworks of dynamic artistic expression.

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In aesthetic matter, the smallest form of space and the stone pillow expressed as a point, the ladder connected by vertical and horizontal lines linking the earth and the Heaven, the cornerstone of the anointed pillar erected from the stone pillow depicts the pillar of the foundation connecting the vertical and horizontal structures of the God's temple. Through this exhibition, I aim to offer a unique perspective on the beauty of the cross, humanity's hope, and the ladder of Jesus Christ, all of which are emphasized by the grace, love, and providence of the Trinity of God. This representation of hope and grace is a central theme in the artwork, inviting viewers to contemplate these profound Biblical stories and the beauty of art again from the viewer's life.                                       Chong Keun Chu 2024

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