Deb Koo
Deb Koo is an oil painter based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Her interest in art began at Smith College, where she studied Studio Art. Afterward, she continued her studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, where she got her MFA in Western Painting. Currently, she is a member of Goodyear Arts Collective in Charlotte, NC, as well as an art professor at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College. Her oil paintings encompass a wide range of subject matters and styles. However, if there is one thread that pulls her work together, it is the idea of responding to and expressing emotions and experiences through painting.
She is influenced by what she observes in her everyday life. Mundane events, media, human desire, motivation, apathy, and helplessness are some interconnected reasons to paint. The banality of the images depicted, sometimes in bright, saturated colors and other times faded and pale, become surrogate self-portraits, memories, and hopeful futures. This can take the form of a carefully staged still life representing identity, appropriated media images of idealized love and romantic relationships, or food, which can give a sense of belonging, physical satisfaction, or, contrarily, an invitation for discomfort and sweet temptations.
Collect Bean: What does growth mean to you?
Deb Koo: Growth is something that is endless; there is no boundary with growth. Growth takes time, patience, humility, discipline, and hope. To be honest, I do not have much of each of these things! I have a tendency to focus only on my shortcomings and easily get impatient with my work, but I remind myself that growth will come slowly but surely if I keep trying.
Collect Bean: If you could give your younger self one piece of advice, what would it be?
Deb Koo: If I could give my younger self one piece of advice it would be to be patient, paint a lot or at least a little every day, and be okay with making not the best paintings every time. I think consistency is key. There will be times when you feel like nothing is going how it should, and sometimes when you feel like you are soaring. No matter where you are, keep going.
Collect Bean: What is one of your current goals as an artist?
Deb Koo: One of my current goals as an artist is to deep clean my studio space. This has been my goal for a couple of years now! I would love to repaint the walls, sweep the floor, go through and throw away empty paint tubes, dried up paint brushes, and throw away or re-stretch old paintings. I am determined to do this before spring arrives.
Collect Bean: What is something that you do to stay focused?
Deb Koo: One thing I do to help me stay focused is to write a list of things I need to do, but it must be written down physically on paper. Crossing out something I have done on the list is one of the most satisfying things for me. One thing I do to stay focused while I am painting is to listen to very silly, non-serious podcasts, which help me not to overthink and help distract me from more stressful events that may be going on in my life.
Collect Bean: How do you balance your practice with your daily life?
Deb Koo: As a new mom, I admit that I am pretty terrible at balancing my practice with my daily life. I am still adjusting to spending my time very intentionally now that time is limited, and hope that I will get better at balancing my art, job, and family life. Right now, I go to my studio for two to three hours three times a week. It’s not a lot of time, and I can’t do a lot of work, but I believe it is important to make a little progress every day. Eventually, I know I will have more time for my art, and I am trying to remind myself that I should enjoy spending more time with my son.
