I remember seeing one of Michael Hong’s thesis works, 뭘했다고 쉬어? (What Did You Do to Deserve Rest?), 2024 at his studio during an open house. It elicited two strong reactions from me. Firstly, I hurried over to the oblong sculpture to see if the material covering it was cucumber or squash, both common ingredients in Korean side dishes. It turned out to be cucumber. Secondly, the title of the work suddenly reminded me of my parents' voices, which I had internalized as my own self-scrutiny and asked myself over and over again, perhaps on a daily basis.Introducing Michael’s interview based on this anecdote makes me worried. I feel like I am revealing too much about myself and falling into a narrative about our shared cultural heritage. However, I also feel a responsibility to disclose that my position as a viewer who can have a differentiated viewing experience and engagement with the pieces as a reviewer gives me a responsibility to disclose this connection. Also, the possibilities and limitations of what we can accomplish with our identities are both central concerns for us, both professionally and personally, which will unfold throughout this conversation. Most importantly, Michael and I have a more important and universal goal, which is the first sentence he uttered when we sat down to work on his work in the exhibition: “I am at a point where everything just needs to look cool.”
MH: Can you italicize “look’?
IK: Sure, but first, why cool?
MH: The more I do this work, the more I realize that this LA Koreatown experience, specifically my Koreatown experience is so unique, even within the broader Korean American diaspora. A lot of my work right now comes from considering my position in that, and wondering if my work is didactic in any way. Sometimes I feel that my work is didactic because it requires interpretation and translation. When I realized this, I started thinking about creating things that would make me responsible for how I put my materials together. The unique experiences I bring to this work are important to me right now. I think that although there's a lot of specificity with these materials, they are also very relatable, like breaking them down into plastics, or into process. Ultimately, it's important for the work to look cool.
IK: So, what does cool look like to you? What is cool?
MH: I think the combination of materials might be visually off-putting to some people, especially with the resin stuff. People might find it confusing, like wondering if it's made of clay or why it looks wet and shiny. But for me, these unusual qualities are what make it interesting and appealing. Take the cucumber piece, for example. I like the idea of decay on ceramic surfaces and how it challenges people's perceptions. It's almost like convincing people that it's real cucumber or real pepper. I think these components lead to thought-provoking conversations and open-up discussions.
IK: Yeah, and on top of the materiality of clay and materials, the shape of your sculptures is quite interesting too. Where do you usually start when you make these works?
MH: So yeah, these are all self-portraits that are sort of hard to find, but they are defined that way. They start and end based on my footprint and my vertical height. Keeping these things constant allows me to get into an intuitive space where I can investigate my hand's influence through tactile interaction. This is how I express my unique touch on the sculptures. The surfaces then become like memories or reminiscent materials that I'm extracting and layering onto the developed form. It's like pasting on and then adapting and adjusting. This process reflects a lot of post-reflection and adaptation.
IK: How often do you eat your ingredients?
MH: Eat?
IK: Yeah, are you actually like a good cook?
MH: I’m a pretty good cook. You know, my mom has never taught me how to cook. But it's just like, we've always had good food, and it's kind of like an acquired taste. In a way, I've acquired her cooking style and generational recipes.
IK: It’s also about identifying your own mom’s cooking, even when you eat Korean food. Why cucumber specifically?
MH: I've been thinking a lot about the work, and yeah, it started with cooking and food, but really it's about putting in hard work and having a relentless pursuit of something… I don’t really like to use the word labor. For instance, with the cucumber stuff, it's about making cucumber facemasks on a hot night. Yes, I'm really interested in the material qualities of the cucumber and how it evaporates. But overall, I'm thinking about the absurdity and trying to break this leisure moment, which requires a lot of effort, like finding and cutting all these cucumbers. So repetition and obsessiveness are really important in all of this.
IK: And what about the specificity of domestic work? Do you consider that in this?
MH: Yeah, it's mostly about domestic life. I think that's because I have been influenced a lot by my mom and her experience of relying on me to help figure things out in America. Our lives have influenced each other, and I feel like I've become like her in many ways. So, the project is also about my mom's journey and her sense of place. I was very much involved in everything she did and thought, and I had to translate all her thoughts.
Given our cultural background, I assumed that Michael's decision to pursue a career as an artist might have been challenging, especially considering that much of his artwork is about his relationship with his mother. When I met Michael's mother at his graduation ceremony shortly after his art show ended, I asked him how she reacted to his artwork. Based on our short encounter, she seemed very proud and happy for him, and she was also wearing one of the best outfits I had seen in a while. I could tell that his pursuit of visually “cool” things also must have emerged from her influence.
MH: (Answering my question about his mother’s reaction) Yeah, my mom is always like, “good job.” I mean, she would probably ask me to make her a salad bowl or something. Yeah, she’s just very real and practical. She is like, cool show but, like, I really need a salad bowl. You know, like, I need a big bowl. (Turning to the corner) That piece is called Sunday Christian and it's about, like, Korean ladies and the idea of community and church persona, which is also very practical but in a visual and performative way. It's like this weird thing where it's about who can do the most or who looks the best. And oftentimes, it's like a boss-style thing. Again, there's something really interesting there, right? I am juxtaposing these ubiquitous neon-knit scrubbers that they use to do the dishes, which get traded and exchanged quite often as a sign of care, but also putting it next to styrofoam plates that have a lot of artificiality, harm to the environment, and often used in these group settings. Churches are important gathering spaces for immigrant populations. Korean American churches definitely comprise a big part of the social fabric in Los Angeles and other densely populated cities. I also grew up under the heavy influence of the Korean Church, as my parents both engaged in missionary work in different countries. I am quite familiar with the customs and traditions that Michael refers to, but also am not, given that we experienced similar facets of socio-religious developments in different parts of the world. We started exchanging specific memories and phrasings within the Church communities we were a part of, and musing on their overlaps and deviations from American church culture.
IK: Oh, true. Korean churches also have such unique visuals. You could have endless material if you start pulling from that. I think that even for someone who understands what's happening, but isn't you, the scenes might be very familiar to them, but not on the same level. It's like, for me, these scenes are super familiar, but they don't hold the same significance for someone else, like a friend from Wisconsin who visited Korea and saw something similar in an Airbnb once. That friend might be really excited because of the connection to Korea, while for me, it's just a familiar sight. It's interesting to think about how different people perceive the same objects - whether it's a universal experience or a very personal one.
MH: Content-wise, I have a lot to work with. I've been experimenting with found-object assemblages that reflect my experiences. They all have great visual qualities, for example, a table with the rainbow-colored Korean alphabet in the show, featuring the Korean animated character Pororo smiling. I'm pushing and pulling on the unfamiliarity of these objects with my audience. As I think about moving forward, I wonder about the addition of these works. Initially, I imagined that more work would be better and easier, and to some extent, I still agree. It's about developing a visual language, but at what cost? There's so much good stuff, but how do I position these things today? What does it mean for me to be extracting these things and sharing them? I can continuously extract from my whole life filled with unique experiences. This is not just about me, but also about the immigrant stories that are part of my family. It's definitely becoming more than just my story, the circle is growing, and I feel more accountable for a lot.
← Back to Work
