[SYC Artist #3] Ho Jae
Hi, Ho Jae. Would you please introduce yourself?
My name is Ho Jae. I’m a Korean American artist. I’ve been in NY since 2016.
I immigrated from Korean when I was in 4th grade in elementary school. My family moved to California and I lived there for a good portion of my life. When I went to RISD that was the first time coming to the East coast. If you ever been to California, everything is wide, open, and sunny. It’s always happy but in a really purgatory way. Whereas NY is much faster pace, and there’s so much happening. Currently, where I live and what the paintings look like really matters. NYC is a big part of my current work.
How would you describe your work in one word?
I think a key term in my work is the idea of theatricality. One of my first finished works is Theatre Seats, which was shown at Sotheby’s. It’s a large twelve feet by eight feet painting of theatre seats. I finished that work at RISD. Back then I was doing a lot of crap and a lot of different things. For some reason Theatre Seats seemed very complete to me. From there I started to build a series. In my short life time I did a lot of plays and public speaking. I’ve enjoyed a lot of those. One of my personal heroes is the comedian George Carlin. I feel that comedians are able to communicate very difficult and sometimes philosophical ideas in an approachable way to almost everybody. With humor and a sense of presence on the stage comedians are able to break boundaries, can always ease into peoples minds, and teach unknowingly.
Ho Jae, Theatre Seats, 2017
Please tell us more about visual narratives in Play to Win series.
Play To Win, which was at Spring/Break Art Show in early 2019, was a really fun series of work for me. If anything, everything was kind of a parody. A parody meaning a simultaneous homage. It was an extension as an homage but a critical voice in a way. That little series was based on the idea of arcade. There’s a saying “for there to be a game there has to be players. If there are no players there isn't a game.” That really hit the idea of fetishism, which is relevant today. Whatever happens today, whenever more people like it, people repost it, and the bigger it gets. That’s where the idea of fetishism sunk into the theme of arcade. That’s how it began.
One of the ways to approach the audience is to think about why someone would like something, or why they would hate something. Crowd mentality affects why we like something. What really determines why I like something is really about all the advertisements and what people tell you to like. Play to win, from afar, you could see the colorful, shiny, sexy sport car like colors of the painting. But when you look closer at the paintings, they were much more depressing than from afar. The claw machine from far away looks very fun. But when you get close, the claw machines are an idea of things you want but can’t have. There’s a weird irony worked into it.
Ho Jae, Emperor’s New Show, 2017 (Play to Win series)
Ho Jae, Flight Simulation, 2018 (Play to Win series)
What is your current series “Why Everyday is a Monday” about?
I think I created this series because I am in New York. In New York, there is a high sense of purgatory in terms of region; like heaven, hell and purgatory. There is a purgatory in our everyday life, especially in a large city like NYC. Here, everything is always in scaffolds and everything is always in construction. You’re never in the beginning of something and you never see the end of something either. You’re always in the middle. That kind of awareness is the feeling that I wanted to capture in these paintings. That’s why it’s so white and so pasty. If you go to the subway station, this is a very easy color to find. That’s where the composition and the color come in for this series.
Ho Jae, Work In Progress, 2019 (Why Everyday is a Monday series)
All the paintings are first drawn on a 3D rendering program. I use Blender, Slammer 4D, and sometimes Maya. Once they are created on the computer they are printed, and either transferred or pasted onto a canvas. Depending on what I want to do. I came to love a centered composition; because as I try to center something I end up creating an interesting negative space. With the color scheme this composition gives personification to the objects in a weird, almost sad, and beautiful way; it feels like I have to give attention to these objects and nothing else. That’s where the centered composition comes in handy for these works.
How did you come up with the series title (Why Everyday is a Monday) ?
In early 2016 or 2017, there was a moment I saved up a lot of money, quit all my job, and I just painted for four to five months. Without work, and without a schedule I was in a white cube box that we call studio. You’d think that everyday would be like a Friday because all you have to do is paint. Studio is like a physical version of what’s inside my head. Four months of just being inside of a studio without anyone was like me talking to myself for four months straight. That was a very tough thing. That’s when I thought I was in a purgatory. My friend and I had a funny conversation: “Hey, everyday is like a Monday for you. On a Monday, everyone’s tired.” That’s where the term Monday came from. I wanted to portray this feeling of purgatory. That’s why I named the title “Why Everyday is a Monday.”
Ho Jae, The Erased Rauschenberg, 2018
Your work Erased Rauschenberg got famous. What has happened or changed in your life after this work?
I own a Robert Rauschenberg’s piece, like a not too expensive one. It was my good friend Nikolas Bentel’s—who’s a collaborator on the work—idea to do something crazy with the Rauschenberg’s piece. Like making a parody of an already famous work. It exploded, it was great, and it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of moments and had a lot of eyes on it. But to be honest, it changed nothing in my life. Because I paint mostly, it didn’t lead to more things. I’ve tried so many versions of what you call art. Sometimes, everything looks so delicious but you have to pick one thing. I’m slowly getting there, and I’m slowly realizing that these—paintings like “Why Everyday is a Monday” series—are kind of the works that I’m meant for. If anything The Erased Rauschenberg was successful, it helped me realize who I want to become more like.
If you haven’t become an artist, what do you imagine yourself as right now?
Either a chief or a theatrical performer. Something along that line like a standup comedy. There’s something about the idea of performance. There’s also the level of performance to cooking as much as there’s creating. Maybe I’ll be the next Gordon Ramsay. I feel like I always have to make something, or create a program, or some kind of content.
If you have to choose one color that represents your artist self, what would it be?
It would be a pale white. If you think about the scenes in the Matrix series where Neo turns the computer and there’s nothing but white. I think that’s the color for myself. It would be a shade but that would be the shade for myself. The sense of purgatory, being somewhere but nowhere—that is the feeling that I want to capture for a little longer. I’m pale white.
Ho Jae is currently exhibiting at 2020 Spring/Break Art Show “IN EXCESS” during Armory Week (3/3-3/9). In April 2020, Ho Jae’s works will be in a show curated by JP Morgan Chase Corporate Collection.
Interview
Jennifer Lee | 이제니 <jennlee.kana@gmail.com>
Jiwoo Kimㅣ 김지우 <jiwookim.kana@gmail.com>
Editor
Jiwoo Kimㅣ 김지우 <jiwookim.kana@gmail.com>
Photo
Sehwan Hanㅣ한세환 <sehwan.kana@gmail.com>