Statement from the Artist -

Through ink painting and calligraphy I aim to make space for momentary pause and reflection. By focusing on landscapes, historical motifs, and calligraphic poetry, my work acts as a means of intervention and disruption from 21st century modernity.

Tradition is a resource we have inherited. A deep well of knowledge to learn from and access as we stumble forward into the future we desire to create and see.

By working in ink, I am also honored to continue a legacy of centuries of scholars and literati painters who have come before me. Grateful to be a part of a culture and history that expands far greater than myself as an individual artist and person.

About the Artist -

Wol-Un b. 1999 (월운, 月雲) is an ink artist, based in Vancouver, BC, the unceded traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. Born to parents of Korean and Chinese-Filipino descent.

Wol-Un’s work is informed by the traditions and principals of ink painting and calligraphy. Through the incorporation of interdisciplinary technologies his, at times, conceptual approach aims to facilitate connection between historical visual languages, narratives, and aesthetics within a broader, contemporary art discourse. For Wol-Un, painting is a deeply personal and lifelong research endeavor, unpacking what might be found within the dialectics of the antiquated and new.

Wol-Un is a pseudonym, or an “art name” that follows a tradition of East Asian cultures in which artists use pen names to represent things which hold significant value to them or their work. In Korean, this concept of an art name is known as “Ho” (호,號). Wol-Un is a name derived from hanja (한자, 漢字) characters for Moon (月) and Cloud (雲).