Yooyeon Nam

Artist Statement

I am a Korean-born, New York-based oil painter. Through my characters, my work explores cultural estrangement and existential absurdity—marked by anxiety, ambiguity, and a fundamental lack of purpose. I investigate the experience of being an outsider in both my personal and the wider world, observing how this alienation sharpens my awareness of life’s inherent meaninglessness. This eerie discomfort is evoked through a vibrant color palette and mysterious narratives. By depicting overly cute and adorable characters in states of suffering or violence, I accentuate a sense of the uncanny, paradoxically intensifying the seriousness of my narratives.

My round-faced, nose-less characters reflect both my sense of displacement and my cultural heritage. Their blank faces and unconventional eyes echo norms where direct eye contact and overt emotional expression can be considered impolite—a stark contrast to Western environments where eye contact is expected. I combine this cultural alienation with my admiration for traditional Korean Buddha sculptures, which feature idealized, believable, yet deliberately distorted forms—qualities I aim to capture in my own figurative language.