By Julia Seo, V Form

Art to me has always represented freedom:  an escape from my daily life and a way to express myself.  As an artist, I am very passionate about drawing food.  It gives me happiness and joy.  Plus, I really enjoy eating!  It is interesting to look at food that we consume in daily life in my own unique perspective and express it through colorful drawings.  When I draw or paint, I try to use as many colors as I can to make my creations vivid and lively.  I am intrigued by the exploration of my own color combinations and style when composing.

Over the summer, our assignment as Advanced Studio artists was to make two mark-making drawings (the idea of showing the style of lines used to create the piece) by pencil or colored pencil and two other pieces for our individual portfolios.  I decided to concentrate on drawing food.  I worked on these pieces in Korea, and I usually work in a studio.  I spent the summer working on all four pieces simultaneously, moving from one piece to the next as inspiration hit me.

One of my favorite pieces is Entree: Ice Cream.  The medium that I used is acrylic paints.  This particular piece afforded me the opportunity to experiment with myriad vibrant color combinations.  I came up with the idea of drawing ice cream in my own particular way rather than drawing it true to form as anyone could do.  Looking at this piece quickly, you may think it is a painting of ordinary ice cream.  As you look closer, however, you will discover the irony of this piece and understand the title.  Instead of soft serve, each cone/cup is filled with everyday favorites:  pasta, bacon, and rice.

The other piece that really resonated with me is Gright Bulbs. I created this piece using pencil, colored pencil, and acrylic paints.  On first sight, you will notice a bunch of grapes hanging from a tree.  But, on closer inspection, you will observe that the grapes are actually glowing light bulbs with the electric wire forming the stem (this detail is magnified below).  Although freeing, it is very difficult for student artists to produce their work without any assigned topic.  Because it was summer, grapes abounded and I was inspired by their beauty.  Even though this piece lacks the colorfulness of my other works, the use of a variety of materials allowed me to describe more details and express my style.

The only piece that did not focus on food is Cat in the Box. The medium for this piece is pastel colors on cardboard colored paper. I chose to use the latter because I wanted to describe the box realistically.  This was interesting for me to work on because I had to take my cat’s point of view from inside of the box looking up at the sky; she is full of curiosity.  I have always been curious about what my cat might think and see.  We live in an apartment on the 22nd floor, so she spends many hours gazing outside inquisitively.  This work was my chance to interpret what my cat experiences.  It also gave me the challenge of looking closely at her figure and the texture of her fur.

Julia Seo is V Former from Daegu, South Korea, and she lives in Elm House.  She enjoys eating food, sleeping, and shopping.