Justin Paik Reese

Artist Statement

"My work is heavily influenced by memories and experiences that are on a teetering edge of what is real and constant and what becomes misconstrued over time. Growing up in a dilapidated town full of architectural genius, and often traveling to South Korea at a young age to visit my mother’s family, I have a beautiful clash of opposites that fill my mind when revisiting my past. I can vividly recall my grandfather’s ginger jar that sat next to his piles of bodybuilder magazines, often wondering why I never questioned that coexistence. There’s something profoundly powerful and lasting when elements of a reality don’t quite make sense. Living through the chaos of the ‘90s and experiencing pop culture through the lens of two different worlds, I try to find ways to embrace that turbulence and integrate those subtleties into what I create. I try to display the same contrast in my work, evoking thought and question, tugging at the viewer to experience something odd. I am in pursuit of what makes something truly memorable, attempting to forge confusion into beauty."