Kyung-Lae Oak is a visual artist and researcher. She undertook graduate studies in Fine Arts at Kookmin University, Seoul during which time she spent a semester as an exchange student at Coventry University in the UK. Oak’s work draws on her experiences travelling through various cities as a stranger, perceiving the tension between different zones and revealing the history of a city through its environmental colour.
Kyung-Lae Oak approaches the city as a singular architectural work made by many. As architectural space is walked around and peered over various reflections and perspectives can be observed. When passing through a city as a stranger, the artist considers herself not only a viewer but also as a part of the architectural work. Oak is developing a complex and subtle form of abstraction to create rich, multilayered pieces, which represent a vast range of experiences and feelings. She develops unique colour charts for each city, picking up on the details of local buildings, street furniture and traffic to create formal compositions that are printed onto strips of aluminium.
Her images suggest the movement and hum of a city. They are full of passion and reveal subtle colour relationships, yet the impersonal printing technique leaves no trace of the artist’s hand. In this way the artist expresses the complexity of her experience and the intensity of her emotions within this seemingly conflicting and difficult world. By achieving a sense of personal synthesis and harmony she illustrates how the individual emerges from the collective mass.