Izzy Cho

I am enchanted by the conjunction of magic and utilitarianism within the superstitions I inherited from my Korean American cultural landscape. With print, sculpture, and installation, I transform physical manifestations of good luck, such as adornment and rituals, through scale shifts and repetition. Superstition is a part of the mundane and a sign of cultural persistence. However, there are generational burdens that come attached to constructs of luck that allude to inherited traumas and archaic systems of politeness and obligation. Using abstraction, reappropriation, and word play, I revere and poke fun at these cultural structures through a diasporic lens.

My source material combines the traditional, modern, and personal in order to describe my experience witnessing the globalization of Korean culture that has restructured the meaning of cultural objects and imagery. Sheets of traditional Hanji create backdrops for laser cut Korean text slang denoting laughter (ㅎㅎㅎㅎ!, ㅋㅋㅋㅋ!!), and acrylic flora/fauna, games of chance, and anime ribbons. Fluorescent colors and computer generated graphic silhouettes further distort my sources and borrow from languages of cuteness and commodity.

Ultimately, my practice celebrates earnest but humorous attempts to pay homage to a transnational upbringing. Through techniques of (mis)translation, I create mimicries based on everyday rituals that contribute to the ever-growing echo chamber of iconography and nostalgia associated with a third culture.