april 17, 2025
In contemporary culture, animals and creature-like forms are everywhere, especially in commercial figurines and cartoons. Many commercial figurines and cartoons benefit from using the reference of animals or creature-like forms for character production, especially brands that use the commercial approaches of cuteness by simplifying their physical features, using pastel color tones, and emphasizing features like feet or eyes. Currently, brands like Sonny Angels, Labubus, Smiskis, and Pop Mart are commercial figurine brands that use a consistent blueprint of “cuteness” on their characters that share the same facial expressions and body language, with only surface differences in clothing or outer design to distinguish them. However, through these minimalistic differences, the artistic approaches have been appreciated more as a trend of blind box unboxings rather than characteristic consummation, making each commercial figurine’s individuality thin.
I have no interest in replicating this model. I am not against using cuteness, but I am against the way cuteness is commodified into sameness. The rise of blind box distribution has turned figurines into an addictive cycle of collecting for the sake of trend participation. The joy of a single, meaningful character is often replaced by the impulse to complete a set. I instead wish for figurines to be conceptually consumed within the belief in individualism each with a story, a personality beyond its physical form, especially when using the known characteristics of animals installed generally in this world. Figurines should be more than interchangeable collectibles.
My ceramic sculptures are born from this conviction. They are inspired by figurine culture and the use of illustrated animals from other artists, but are reimagined in a fine art context. The visual language of humor and cuteness I install in each character intends to convey the reality of raw emotions living through independence, vulnerability, and selfhood. Each has its own emotional truth, its own quirks and flaws, telling its own narrative. I have created a cat, hippo, giraffe, skunk, and a little girl through handbuilding clay and using ceramic underglaze for color application. These characters are not perfect, nor are they part of a matching set. They are intended to be installed separately, each standing alone, in contrast to the mass-produced ideal of collectability. In their separation, they gain space to be seen and to be known.
nobody knows i have fuzzy socks on (2025)
26.5”h x 8”d x 6”w
juno is a grey cat that noticeably is wearing all black until she lifts her pants up to show off her pink fuzzy socks. the immediate intimidation by the nonchalance of all black closet owners was always installed in me until i realized you never know who could be wearing fuzzy socks no matter how serious they seem...until they lift up their pants.
i ❤ k-pop (2025)
22”h x 13”d x 7”w
wookku, is a hippo in homewear dancing solo while holding his phone to listen to music. while holding his phone, he is listening to what I consider the most influential k-pop boy group of the 2010s, EXO. wookku is listening specifically to EXO’s debut album called “XOXO”. wookku’s wearing a shirt saying “I ❤ ️ K-POP” with some iceberg grey sweatpants. the most comfortable outfit to wear is what i call “home wear”, a random shirt with comfortable pants, so he can dance. (not to be confused with pajamas as pajamas are a bit of a committed attire.)
EXO came out with their “XOXO” album when I was in 6th grade in 2013, and brought a completely different level of fangirling to so many young girls and were so undeniably famous worldwide. it is unfortunate how globalized k-pop has become with the urge to promote within western standards, where many songs are promoted now in english. but wookku will neverrrr forget the promotion period of the song “으르렁 (Growl)”, which is one of their most streamed songs to this day.
i can’t even see what i’m doing right now (2025)
26”h x 12”d x 18”w
infy the giraffe is struggling to do pottery. when a potter makes a pot, balance and central body posture is very vital to achieving smoothly orbited pots. although infy has the inability to center clay properly from the disadvantage of her height, she still continues her ambition to make pottery.
honminchoco (2025)
21”h x 8”d x 4”w
mint chocolate chip ice cream loving skunk, frunk, is my personal favorite. most people associate skunks to be smelly due to their reputation of spraying, but they actually only spray when they are scared. frunk’s never scared though, frunk’s cold. but despite being so cold, as long as he eats his ice cream, life is good.
no “koong! koong!” (2025)
20”h x 9”d x 9”w
lastly, bini, is standing on a pillow with blue string rope going around a chair and also taped to a wall. she is playing a game by herself and the game is supposedly called elastics in america, but it is more familiar to me as “chinese jump rope” or even “고무줄 뛰기". chinese jump rope is a game that requires 3 people at minimum- 2 people to hold it by their knees and one player in the middle to jump against the string. the challenge of the game is to move the string up from the ankles to calves to knees to hip area in a succession manner. this used to be my favorite game growing up, but i always hated how much social requirement it had. despite the structure required, my ambition led me to play it by myself in my room where i would grab a heavy chair, scotch tape, and a pillow. i lived on the 3rd floor of my apartment, so my mom was always so conscious of making noise while walking. noise in Korean is referred to by the onomatopoeia of “koong”. so my mom would always check on me everytime i would make excessive ground noise, saying “no koong! koong!”.