Painting & Printmaking School of Fine Art
Jungyoon Im
I am a painter based in Glasgow, Scotland originally from Seoul, Korea. My practice involves the investigation and recording of residual memories/feelings of dreams, aiming to embody/realise repressed desires, feelings of strangeness, and the disorientation that coexist between the unconscious and conscious mind.
I explore the unconscious realm from theoretical, psychoanalytical, historical, and artistic perspectives, delving into the meaning and interpretation of dreams within these contexts. Reflecting the unknown sensations of fleeting, inscrutable dreams, the work I make is the result of going through the process of changing intangible memories into substance, by recollecting/recording the traces of dreams through writing, drawing and painting I come to understand more. I repeat the evocative process in a meditative manner, and the forms continuously evolve in my paintings.
‘Always be with you (언제나 네 곁에)’, Degree Show
This exhibition comprises a series of selected paintings, which I refer to as dream works. These paintings are the results of a years worth of documenting dreams through drawings and writings in a dream diary. The process of collecting dreams has now become almost ritualistic, where I wake up in the morning and attempt to extract as much information from my unconscious thoughts before they slip away. This can involve capturing multiple dreams at a time each morning, or spontaneously as the dreams appear in my thoughts throughout day-to-day. A selection of these drawings can be seen in the self-made zine “Where are you?” which accompanies this exhibition.
The drawings and writings that live in my dream diary are further translated into paintings, which can be seen in this exhibition. The paintings vary in their colour, form and texture, reflecting attempts to further explore the vastness of the unconscious world and its elusiveness. The works on the white walls have been carefully selected and given space to breathe. In contrast, the grey wall features 17 paintings in total huddled together at various heights, with some works even appearing to float away to other walls or even off the wall to somewhere else entirely. The choice of curating the works as such is a way to mirror my inner thoughts and unconscious state of dreaming where dreams gather and come together.
“Where are you?”, Zine
The dream diary, A5, 2024
I compiled the iPad drawings into an A5-size book. I aim to invite viewers into my dream diary, sharing my personal space. The Dream Diary ‘Where are you?’ shows how I record my dreams and their development from dream to drawing to painting.