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 am not interested in replicating this model. 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 trend participation. the role 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.
these ceramic friends are born from this conviction. they are inspired by the importance of figurine culture and the general use of illustrated animals from other artists to convey the reality of raw emotions living through independence, vulnerability, and selfhood. they each have their own emotional truth, 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. they are not perfect, nor are they part of a matching set. they are intended to be installed separately, 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 “XOXO”. his “I ❤ ️ K-POP” shirt is paired with some iceberg grey sweatpant, the most comfortable outfit and what i call “home wear”. (not to be confused with pajamas.)
wookku can neverrrr forget the promotion period of EXO’s “으르렁 (Growl)”.
i can’t even see what i’m doing right now (2025)
26”h x 12”d x 18”w
infy is struggling to center. when a potter makes a pot, balance and central body posture are 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 successfully center.
honminchoco (2025)
21”h x 8”d x 4”w
mint chocolate chip ice cream loving skunk, frunk, 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
bini, is standing on a pillow with blue string rope going around a chair and also taped to a wall. she is playing “chinese jump rope” or “고무줄 뛰기" by herself. 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 by the onomatopoeia of “koong”. so, my mom would always check on me everytime i would make excessive ground noise, saying “no koong! koong!!!!!”