The Fourth of Nine Elephants (Nine Elephants), 2026
Oil, nail on canvas, glass, wooden frame10 x 10 x 6.5 cm
4 x 4 x 2 5/8 inches
Notes
The series title Nine Elephants plays on the homophone Gusangdo (九相圖, Japanese: kusozu), replacing the character for 'phase' (相) with 'elephant' (象). Drawing on the etymology of 'imagination' (想像)—the act of visualizing an elephant from its bones—the artist links 'elephant' to the 'digital image' and chroma key, contrasting historical image-making with the impermanence of modern visual culture.
The nine paintings are enclosed in varying layers of glass and dense nailing, with frames inspired by Korean royal portraits (eojin). Arranged sequentially, they evoke a continuous process of transformation and disappearance.
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