Youngseok Cha

Youngseok Cha’s sneaker paintings are the results of his constant inquiry into what to draw and how to draw from his experiments with ways of expressing objects. Among the objects that appear in the series An Elegant Endeavor, the artist developed interest in sneakers — something he was wearing at the time — and extracted the image of sneakers to create an independent series. Using images of sneakers that were chosen as a direct link to his current life, Cha sought to explore different ways of drawing and presenting subjects that divert from their set materials and arrangements. He only paints one shoe instead of painting the sneakers in pairs or groups, which focuses people’s attentions. Although brand logos, letterings, and specific trademarks appear on them, Cha’s sneakers are original, modified designs created through his own imagination. Color fields of vivid hues and textures come to the fore on the artist’s canvas, and various types of short lines are drawn with pencils to replicate the looks and textures of materials such as fabric, shoestrings, leather, and synthetic materials. The artist experiments a range of different formative methods to emphasize how sneakers exist as fragments of our daily lives as well as aesthetic objects. One of the most representative elements of such experiments is the background. The background of his sneaker paintings creates a space full of energy, illuminating the presence of the single object.