There is a saying that a repetitive practice of drawing a line of the Chinese character yi (一, meaning “one” in English) leads one to realization of the way or truth (道,Tao). This idea made sense to meconceptually, but if it were to be put into practice just on a paper, lines might visually look simple and dry. Then, while drawing, I happened to notice that there was air captured in various forms between a glass and a paper, which made me sense an invisible energy of nature that exists everywhere. From this realization, I started Strokes on the Water series.

The work process is as follows. First, water is sprayed on an oriental painting paper, also known as Hwaseonji, which is laid out on an acrylic plate. I draw a stroke with a brush dipped in paints. Then, a color gets soaked into the paper and spreads out. Every single stroke portrays its own slightly different look of air at the time of drawing, affected by temperature, humidity, a status of an attached paper on the plate, and my body rhythm.Daily drawing of a piece of painting with a single stroke for a period of time becomes what I play for enjoying capturing a moment. It is also like picture diaries in an abstract form as seen in 0-1095 series. In this series, there only exist a sole stroke—at a minimum degree of involvement in acts of painting—without any technique or deliberation; and a pure energy that is generated through a contact between water, paper, and air. Forms of air bubbles and waves of “0” (zero) in an abstract form of a circle that are created by this harmony between them turn into tens of thousands of imaginations, lives, and souls.