Biography

Ajin No is a painter currently based in San Francisco and originally from Seoul, Korea. She majored in oriental painting at Hansung University in Korea. And has a BFA and an MFA in Fine Art Painting from Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA.

Her main art mediums of painting include acrylic, oil, and mixed media. Her paintings have been included multiple years at the Academy’s Spring Show. Ajin has exhibited her artworks at City Session, Mish-Mash group painting exhibition, and Light space & Time, an online art gallery. Also, she has a plan to exhibit her works at SFWA Collage & Mixed media, colors of humanity art gallery online exhibition, and Art gallery 118 online exhibition in May 2021. She is a member of Mikihasi, a San Francisco Korean Artists Group, and has published her artworks, videos and other work on the Youtube channel: Mikihasi.

Artist Statement

I am more interested in expressing the invisible world rather than in how to interpret the visible world. So, I wanted to create a painting that satisfies both the essence of a true object and our intellectual desires in a combination of finite and infinite. And it gave birth to my signature mixed media collages combining cityscape with abstract painting.

My interest in the city began when I went to study abroad. Being in a strange environment, I suffered from a sense of loss and felt alienated. The use of non-native foreign languages, the lack of communication and ambiguity caused by cultural differences, caused me discomfort and uncertainty. This led to my interest in where I am, my existence, and my identity. Living on the 27th floor in downtown San Francisco for more than 10 years, the scenery I see every day is a spectacular view of the city. Unlike my daily changing identity, the buildings I see are always there. They have invisible forces that depend on how I feel, and that made me feel attracted to the process of becoming involved in a strange world and making it familiar to me in a strange environment. Also, it made me focus on visualizing invisible impressions and emotions. The question of my identity and the journey to my existence were captured in the painting along with the city’s appearance.

A finite image that can best show me the appearance of a city that remains unchanged is a photograph. And infinite emotions are expressed in colors. A photograph shows the structure of the mind and the color expresses what breaks the frame. Also, using palette knives and rollers represents the ever-changing and moving emotional state, and helps visualize the invisible too.