ARTIST STATEMENT

I make inside-out portraits of people I am surrounded by to understand myself and the world around me. My work represents my shifting identity as an immigrant, woman, or hybrid in a globalized world with a strong influence on Social Media. I make paintings, drawings, installations, and public art, influenced by surrealism and animation.

My recent work series ‘Waterman the Stranger (2018-2019)’ is about a person like me who struggles to shape identity and stay in a state of flux in a new place or new circumstances. I started by asking – ‘if I mimic what an ideal life looks like in a new place, will I blend in well?’ In this series, I deal with alienation because of pursuing the self-defined ideal life. I illustrate myself as shifting water that repels, absorbs, reflects, and fails to show the figure’s struggle to find a place within its environment. The backgrounds reflect ‘a better life’ in Utah that I imagined. This series started from my struggle of settling in Utah after moving from New York.

BIOGRAPHY

Jiyoun Lee-Lodge is a Korean-born, Salt Lake City, Utah based artist. Selected exhibition venues include Utah Museum of Contemporary Museum, Gallery Korea, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning, Recession Art, Gallery Ho, PizzaArte, ArtGate, Maum, Arario, the Bowery Club, Clinton Project, New York; ArtMora, New York, New Jersey, and Seoul, South Korea; 437CO gallery, Colorado; Rio Gallery, Urban Arts Gallery, Draw Inc, Bountiful Davis Art Center, Utah and more. She curated ‘Hybrid Life Form’ at Franklin St (Project Space) in NY, and her recent installation projects include an ArtShop Project at Gateway and The Block Main Street Kiosk Project, Utah. She recently completed the public art ‘The Arrival’ that is the commission by the NYC Department of Education, Public Art for Public Schools at PS 144 addition, Queens. Jiyoun is the recipient of the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art’s Artist-in-residence program, Ahl Foundation Visual Arts Award, Manhattan Graphics Center Workspace Fellowship, New York, ArtMora Residency Program, New York, and Teaching fellowship at Brooklyn College. Jiyoun also won Small Matters show at Mesa University, CO, Statewide Annual at Utah Division of Arts and Museums. She was one of the finalists of NYC Urban Canvas as well. Jiyoun received an MFA in Studio Art from Brooklyn College, New York.

 

http://www.jiyounlee.com/ 

http://www.tusklife.com/

Michael M. Murdock is a self-taught artist, illustrator, and muralist from Salt Lake City, Utah. His mixed-media artwork often consists of painting on reclaimed wood made with found materials. The subject matter often contains elements of humor, solitude, and trying to find ones own special place in the universe. He draws inspiration from his home state of Utah, discarded objects, skateboarding, magic, folklore, life, death, outer space, and everything in between. His work consciously aims to fall somewhere between fine art and a knock-knock joke. He also has a hard time referring to himself in third person.

https://www.mmmurdock.com/

Chuck Landvatter was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He holds a BS in Interpersonal Communications from the University of Utah (2008), and an MFA in Drawing & Painting from Utah State University (2013). For nearly a decade, Chuck has taught art and design in various capacities including assistant professor, at USU, Weber State, and SAU. Chuck’s work is informed by his experiences growing up in the Intermountain West, often involves the figure, and is executed with a hybrid approach involving traditional techniques, contemporary design, illustration, and graffiti.

Dayton Crites thinks all the world is interactive artwork. He is often reminded by others that it is not.  He has built mountain trails, designed parks and reimagined downtowns throughout the United States.  Glendale Art Blocks is his first professional art installation.

Jared Steffensen is an artist and curator who currently resides in Salt Lake City, where he is the Curator of Exhibitions at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Art. He earned his BFA in Intermedia Sculpture from the University of Utah in 2002, and an MFA from The University of Texas at Austin in 2006, where he was also a recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant. His work has been exhibited throughout the United States as well as in Mexico, Germany and The Netherlands.

William S. Phillips is well known for his landscape and aviation paintings. He initially did not intend to become an artist, but when he sold four paintings in one afternoon at an airport restaurant he decided to pursue art as his career.