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Heekyoung Jeon’s work revolves around the contradictory ideas of Utopia. On one hand, it presents the promise of an idealised, Paradise-like state, in that it is often seen as a form of escapism and relief into a better world. On the other, it presents a fictional, impossible dream, one that does not exist, with Utopia literally translated as ‘no place’. They are also portals into her feelings and serve as a place within the ether in which she hovers between internal (of the mind) and external (her physical reality) states of being.
Jeon’s paintings draw from the aesthetics of traditional Korean landscapes, reinterpreting and visualizing idealised natural scenery, such as the traditional Korean Peach Blossom Garden. She uses the familiar cues of rivers and misty mountains enveloped in curling tendrils of cloud and fog. These clouds, however, serve as a visual interference for the artist, and rather than presenting a traditional landscape experience, obscure, cover and smother the idealised landscape we are presented with. She also works in bright, primary colours, often using photographic paper or synthetic leather in addition to the more traditional medium of canvas, imbuing each work with a vivid energy.
These heavenly topographies, then, act as reflections of her inner self, and an avatar of sorts. Scattered scenes of serenity and free-floating spirit between cerebral desire and personal history; between the psychological and the biological. In this light, the obscuring clouds take on more visceral attributes in an explosion of emotion. The shapes of intestines and brains can be made out amongst the fog, a bodily expulsion, contrasting with the more cerebral elements of an idealised state. They are flutters of the soul, let loose into an idealised, transcendental state, where they either smother and choke, or can fly freely and dissipate, to be no more, somewhere between human desire and reality.
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