When you call my name quietly is a series of landscape drawings rendered in gouache, colored pencil, and graphite on paper, simultaneously accurate and surreal. “I am a daughter of a retired ROK army colonel. Moving, traveling, transferring to new schools, adopting to the new landscapes and atmospheres in various regions and making new friends who were vastly different than from the previous places were a big part of my youth, and my family always had exceptionally strong bond through the changes. Naturally, I became interested in one’s perception of the world around us, the myriad influences that can distort the perception, and the landscapes that withstand the changes through time. The conjunctions of the distortions such as the reflection of a mountain in a body of water, mirroring mountain valleys, changing lights in nature, and the sparkly things in the sky that make your heart sink such as snow, stars and fireflies are the vessels to carry my thoughts beyond words. Each of the drawings in this exhibition are titled from the lines of a message I wrote to my children.”

You are what my dreams may become. This is the end of my time, and the beginning of yours. Countless shining moments await like fireflies in the dusk. When the time comes and you shine like stars in the indigo sky, I step back and admire. How beautiful you are, how wonderful you are. My river runs through you. My Sun only exists to make your Moon bright.

When you think of me seasons after seasons, call my name quietly, I’ll come to you like first snow in the dark night. I’ll come to you like first snow in the dark ocean.

– Soomin Jung, 2021

Bio

Soomin Jung was born in Seoul, South Korea, and relocated in San Antonio, Texas where she earned an MFA from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2008. In 2007, Jung did a residency at the Santa Reparata International School of Art, Florence, Italy. Jung is a full-time lecturer at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Recent exhibitions include: McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX (2022), Conduit Gallery, Dallas, TX (2021) Southwest School of Art, San Antonio, TX (2021); Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum, San Antonio, TX (2020); Swedish Institute, Minneapolis, MN (2020); Hopkins Arts Center, Hopkins, MN (2020); Brea Gallery, Brea, CA (2019); Culture Commons Gallery, San Antonio, TX (2019); the Bridgeport Art Center, Chicago, IL (2018).