Soo Hong Artist Interview: Repetition, Reinvention & Not Staying Still

The Blue Sun, 2022, from Soo Hong’s Meditative Desire Series

“I get bored easily; that’s the problem,” Hong explains, from her art studio in Bellevue, Washington. “That’s why each painting has to be something new.”

Hong doesn’t get fixated on one idea, and it is noticeable in her distinct art style. Through the use of thick gestural brush strokes that create abstract lines, some of her images appear geometric while others seem biomorphic and shapeless. Her paintings tend to blur the lines of reality with an explosion of colors that blend and bleed into one another, clashing like combatants on a canvas. Hong’s intuitive nature is ingrained in her abstract paintings, as she chooses to let the brush guide her along, negating any conscious intention in her works.

“I need to move; I don’t like standing [still],” she explains, of the dynamic qualities of her paintings. “You can smudge it, or make it blurry, make a path, and put another thing that gives you a place to hold on.”

Meet, Overlap, and Merge, 2022, from Soo Hong’s Raindrops Series

A Nomad Finds Belonging through Painting

While attending graduate school in London from 2002 to 2003, Hong utilized figurative art concepts throughout her paintings – but after moving to Washington state in 2018, she began to fully embrace abstraction. She first embarked on her Raindrops series, which expands upon the stereotypical visual form of a raindrop in unpredictable ways.

“At the time, my husband and I didn’t have jobs, so I just felt like I really wanted to stay here. I wanted to stop moving,” Hong explains, of her desire to no longer be a nomad. “If I did [a] Raindrop painting, I would feel at least emotionally at home.”

The series is deeply inspired by Hong’s yearning for connection and belonging following a turbulent period of uncertainty, loneliness, and distress. Her physical environment became integral to her art, as she infused each painting with the intrinsic nature of her rainy Pacific Northwest surroundings.

When her Raindrops series neared completion, Hong and her family were gaining stability and feeling comfortable in their new environment, which in turn inspired her next series, Utopia. In essence, behind each of Hong’s series are personal experiences and evolving feelings; what remains constant is that her work has continued to change despite her being in one place for some time.

“Now, I’m looking back at my work and trying to put the puzzle together. Why do I keep changing?” she questions. “Maybe because… this is the longest time that I’ve been staying in one place. Living in a cosmopolitan city, even though you’re stable, the outside world keeps changing, so actually, you feel like you’re moving somewhere.”

Looking Inside and Understanding Outside, 2020, from Soo Hong’s Utopia Series

We Wonder, 2020, from Soo Hong’s Utopia Series

Though Hong is now more grounded than she previously may have been, she continues to explore the intricacies of the nomadic lifestyle. Her latest series, Liquid World, first started under the placeholder title, Without Holding. The previous title served to symbolize the relationship that nomadic people have with their surrounding environments, and how their choices inform their lifestyles and imbue them with meaning.

“In-between the nomad life, how can you be grounded?” Hong ponders. “How could you hold on to one thing? You know family as a family member… but with a nomad life, what is the thing to hold onto?”

The first entry in her Liquid World series is a mesmerizing painting titled Without Returning. It’s a vibrant psychedelic trip, with Hong’s mastery of color-blending on full display. Hong’s use of light sage green stands out, stretching like a sinuous flower stem that draws viewers’ eyes into its depths. Shades of blue swirl together, creating an ethereal atmosphere of distance and possibility. Darker blue shades cascade like petals, adding elements of mystery and allure. The abstract composition expands across the entire canvas, inviting interpretation and reflection. In this artistic realm, “home” emerges as a sanctuary where one finds the space to truly belong.

Without Returning, 2024, from Soo Hong’s Liquid World Series

Where You Live, 2024, from Soo Hong’s Liquid World Series

Repetition in the Creative Process

When reflecting on her artistic journey, it is clear to Hong that she has always been driven by a wide array of mediums and creative influences. In what might’ve been some early displays of her nomadic nature, Hong transitioned to moving images and video creation after graduating from college, where she majored in Furniture Design. Her early aspirations included being a filmmaker influenced by French New Wave cinema – yet when Hong later attended graduate school in London, she switched fields once again and moved to illustration. She soon started making pencil drawings and illustrations without a plan or a goal. It was her first foray into automatism, or the performance of actions without conscious thought or intention.

Hong’s tendency to transition through mediums without hesitation mirrors her life, to a degree. She’s not afraid of her inexperience in a subject, instead utilizing it as a tool to experiment with different materials through which she discovers what she enjoys. Some consistencies do carry through, however; even now, Hong sometimes paints while listening to the soundtrack from French filmmaker Jean-Luc Godard’s Breathless (1960).

As Hong’s artistic style continues to change over time, she is increasingly less concerned with specific imagery. Instead, she now emphasizes on conveying emotions and ideas based on her personal experiences through color, texture, movement, and her life’s journey as a nomad.

“Each time, trying to [re]invent seems like routine for me [so] that is not fresh anymore… so what if I do the same thing over and over? Will that feel new to me?” Hong questions, of the potential of shifting her approach to her own work.

While painting is the primary medium in which Hong practices her art, it wouldn’t be surprising if tomorrow, she decides to transition to yet another medium to express herself. After all, she’s an artist who isn’t afraid to go past her known boundaries to find answers to whatever crosses her mind.

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Flutter, 2023

Neo Joy, 2023