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 earned 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. She has shown locally in Charlotte, NC, at Goodyear Arts, LaCa Projects, Sozo Gallery, and The Mint Museum Randolph. Out-of-state and international shows include Lorin Gallery in Los Angeles, Tchotchke Gallery in New York, and Open Call and Four Year Anniversary Shows at Delphian Gallery in London.
Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: What does growth mean to you?
Deb Koo: Right now, growth means continually making progress, even if the growth may not be visible right away. Growth is having faith that you will one day look back and be proud of how far you have come, what you have learned about yourself, and how you have expanded your vision.
Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: What role does art play in society, and how does your work contribute to that?
Deb Koo: Art beautifies, builds, and inspires community. Art is a creative outlet for expression, character, and personality that is unique from other forms. I am not exactly sure how my work contributes to this, but for sure, my work is a creative outlet and channel for me.
Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: How do you see your artwork fitting into the larger art world or art history?
Deb Koo: I see my artwork as continuing the tradition, genre, and dialogue of still life painting, and I am motivated by the desire to prolong the temporary and give meaning to the mundane through the medium of oil painting. Through explorations of personal memory, thoughts and experiences through paint on canvas, I aim to render and prolong visible impermanence and fleeting experiences.
Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: 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, I would encourage myself to explore more mediums and ways of artmaking. One thing I regret today that I wish I had tried more in college is incorporating my art studies with different mediums with my paintings, such as sculpture, mixed media, video, etc.
Collect Bean x The Art Kollective: If you had to describe your work in only three words, what would they be?
Deb Koo: Three words to describe my work are sweet, light, and still. The sweetness can be sugary, pleasant, delightful, inviting, intimate, lighthearted, sentimental, cloying, or excessive. Light, because of the predominant light present in much of my painting work, that helps to bring out the vibrancy of the objects' colors, textures, and surfaces, as well as their shadows. Finally, still, because a lot of my work includes still life and has a sense of peace and calm.
