Veronica Juyoun Byun was born in Seoul, Korea. She was educated in the United States and lives and works in Jersey City. She received her MFA from Rhode Island School of Design and her BFA from Alfred University, New York. She has exhibited internationally in galleries and public institutions including in the USA, Korea, Croatia and Austria. Inspired by her personal heritage, Byun draws on traditional Korean colours and customs as influences within her work.
She says about her work,
I want my work to be a gateway, to touch viewer more viscerally. What is felt then is both concrete and atmospheric. Furthermore, I believe in the notion that art is a language that can deliver a meaning of what is felt or sensed, but remains invisible. What is invisible is always there in a work; it is a message that is mysterious and profound. For myself, working in clay allows me the opportunity to offer “tactile pictures” and a range of impressions that I have gathered over time. These include memories and questioning my own Korean identity. While these impressions are unique to my experience, I believe they also cross the lines of shared human experience. Things that I have seen, heard, touched, and tasted turn into subject matter for my work. Everything that I experience in life has a potential for providing a basis from which my work can be born.
