“I worship books. They are the purest, most complete, most effective means for delivering knowledge and feeling.“

You could call it a very early precursor to the “shelfie.” Long before we were snapping pictures of our bookshelves to show off our literary troves on the ‘gram, there was chaekgeori, a style of Korean still-life painting that emerged in the late 18th century. Spread across the panels of folded screens, these images of near-life-size bookshelves were also meant to express an individual’s intellect, and often stood in a scholar’s room as a beautiful, dignifying backdrop.

“We are knee-deep in shit and rubble. What we need isn’t a critique of shit and rubble; what we need is a positive approach for locating the few potentially useful fragments and toeholds that remain as our ideological bubble collapses around us.”

…in the moment of making, the object you muster gains power over you and sometimes indeed this power may stem from the highest entity, from all that is beyond words and for a human to grapple. This I believe must have a reason, which in itself is more beautiful than a failed result, or a mediocre result. This happens in everybody’s life. There is no reason really why my things are exhibited in a museum and others’ are not.