Daniel UM was born in Seoul, South Korea in 2001. He currently lives and works in New York, and is pursuing his BFA in illustration at Parsons School of Design. Primarily working with oil paints, Um interweaves his experience with imagination in his dreamy canvas, blurring the boundary between the public and the private. Despite the vivid colors and fantastical compositions, the artist focuses on fragments of his life that reside in themes of desolation and states of refuge. Um tells the story through his streams of consciousness, letting the intensity and rhythm of his emotions dictate the pace of the painting. For the artist, it is both an additive and reductive process resulting in multiple layers of history leaving traces of regret and realization. The synthesis of chance and intention in Um’s paintings thus creates ample room for the viewer to fill in the gaps of meaning.
