Evoking the body and its ongoing relationship to technology, Korean American artist Meeson Pae's work explores the sensual architecture of organic and mechanical forms. With the assistance of 3D sculpting software, Pae renders her muscular mechanisms and fluid flesh virtually. This process allows her to exploit a limitless potential of scale, gravity, perspective, and to boundlessly 'undo' or 'redo' her subject matter until she has arrived at a moment of climactic transformation.
Read MoreAcross media, whether oil painting or sculptures fabricated through industrial processes, such as 3D printing and laser-cut steel, Pae's work examines how shifting states can alter our perceptions of the abstract and representational, the organic and architectural, the internal and external.
Drawn to the visceral, Pae's protuberances and cavities, lumps and spills form mechanical organs creating entangled compositions that function symbiotically. Pae builds worlds that are invisible, fanciful, and futuristic—her objects seem aware of their own fragility oscillating between micro and macro spatiality. Her imagery occupies an unfamiliar landscape; the dark strangeness of these settings heightens the alien origins of these processors, atoms, motherboards, or molecules. Across her multifaceted practice, the works speak to a desire for exploration of spaces that extend beyond human understanding.
Meeson Pae (b. 1979, Indianapolis, IN) received her fine art degree from University of California Los Angeles. She has exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, including K11 Musea, Hong Kong, China; Carl Kostyal, London, UK; Anat Ebgi, Los Angeles, CA; Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; Torrance Art Museum, Torrence, CA; Kala Art Institute, Berkeley, CA; and Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA; among others. Pae has completed numerous public projects and commissions including Le Meridien Hotel, Zhengzhou, China; Royal Caribbean International Ltd, Papenburg, DE; Internet Brands, El Segundo, CA; WebMD, Newark, NJ; Phoenix Biomedical University Office of Arts and Culture, Pasadena Arts & Culture Commission, Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario Airport, Ontario, CA; and Mobile Exhibits Arts Council, Long Beach, CA. Pae's work has appeared in The New York Times, the Korea Times, the Los Angeles Times, Metal Magazine, New Scientist, Art & Object, and Prestige Hong Kong, among many others. Pae lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Text courtesy Anat Ebgi.