Earth Reading Room

Abstract

Earth Reading Room Se Jong Cho (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution Acrylic on canvas 24 × 24 inches Courtesy of the artist 2019 The image of a bedroom with Earth’s moon [Moon Bedroom, the first painting in the Modularity Space series, of which Earth Reading Room is a part] materialized in full color when I read about India Mahdavi’s global approach to interior design. She said, “I see space being divided by curtains instead of having walls. Because it gives you the modularity.” I was inspired by her use of colors, textures, and shapes to create livingscapes that are both otherworldly and familiar. Painting the human spaces alongside the solar objects felt like creating miniatures, a subject matter to which Gaston Bachelard dedicated an entire chapter in The Poetics of Space, examining how they shape humans as “the imagining being” through fantasy and daydreaming. In it, he stated, “One must go beyond logic in order to experience what is large in what is small.” I wanted to explore this space beyond logic. The lush images of planets, dwarf planets, and moons provided a creative foundation for exploring various elements to create my own dreamscapes. Painting this series brought me back to a fond childhood memory of building Lego houses and spaceships, of making my own rules and improvising, of finding joy in things that are cute, funny, and mind-blowing. —Se Jong Cho Se Jong Cho Born in Seoul, se jong cho makes art to explore the extents of her imagination and broaden the creative domain. She began painting while pursuing her PhD in environmental engineering. Her training as a scientist taught her to become observant and think critically, and she cultivated her brand of creative expression that combines multidisciplinary perspectives. Copyright © 2023 Johns Hopkins University Press ...