Younhee Paik was educated first in South Korea, and later in San Francisco where she received her M.F.A. and resided as an active artist for over thirty years while continually revisiting her homeland. For the past twelve years, she has held a studio and exhibited in New York, San Francisco, and Seoul. She is a passionate, expressive painter whose feelings assume a masterful presence in large, dynamic paintings.
The Asian attributes of Paik’s work are reflected by subject and method as her pieces are about transformation and transition between the material and spiritual worlds. Her choice of symbols represents both the work of nature and man: water and bridges, forests and ships, stars and ladders. Her sky paintings are filled with motifs that have both universal meaning and human reasoning. Her metaphors can be extended to her most recent development on large, unframed canvas and aluminum plates. Most important of these metaphors are the lights she uses in various ways. Light, here, signifies the beyond—spiritual beyond—light of heaven. Paik’s strength as an artist is that she continues to paint her wonder, throwing aside a certain regard for life as it is.
Works by Paik are held in the permanent collections of various public and private institutions across South Korea and the United States, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; the Seoul City Museum, Seoul; Samsung Museum, Seoul; TOTAL Art Museum, Seoul; Whanki Museum, Seoul; Soowon City Museum, Soowon; Seoul National University Museum, Seoul; Korean National Consulate, New York, NY; Korean Cultural Service, New York, NY; Bank of America, Sacramento, CA; Triton Museum, Santa Clara, CA; San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, CA; Sonoma County Museum, CA; and the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, CA. She has also shown her work in over 40 solo exhibitions at institutions such as the Korean National Museum; the Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose; and the Staller Center for the Arts at Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY; and was featured at the 1995 Venice Biennale.