23 years ago May

Since 1984, we have lived in Green Point, Brooklyn. 

Jung Chan Seung, a senior who had been living in a nearby neighborhood, went to Seoul Korea for cancer treatment in 1994. He was worried that He would miss his flight the day before, and asked me to call him back in time for airport.

A few months later, in May of that year, I went to Seoul and Jeju Island for a solo exhibition. I called Mr. Chung in Seoul. "I am going to the hospital now. I'll drop by the gallery when I get better. Good luck with your show.” The voices of Mr. Chung who struggled with pain were the last one! I heard the news that he died in a taxi ride to hospital due to sudden deterioration.

There is his self-portrait painted by him silently hanging on the white wall in my home

Is it May like that year? Preparing for a solo exhibition this spring, as the spring broke through the frozen land, and the buds embracing the small petals emerged, the thought of Jung Chan Seung came up smoothly.

I have been very sleepy since childhood. Whenever I didn’t get up in the morning, my mother used to roll me up in a blanket and put me on an upper side of the floor. One day, when it was a daily routine to sleep with child after giving birth, Mr. Chung called me, “Are you sleeping? This is not the time to sleep. Your husband may have two mothers-in-law. Be realistic.” “Aren’t you with my husband?” "I already came home by myself. Your husband is hanging out with a woman and flirting with her without even though of going home. Hey, wake up," Not only did he wake me up whenever if he did not feel well played with my husband But also let's have a drink from time to time. “Bring me kimche.”

1994 on my opening, I was eagerly waiting for Mr. Chung to recover, However senior Chong Gon Pyun suddenly appeared in my opening who was not expecting it at all. He also came to Seoul for an exhibition.

When I sent a catalog of my exhibition for 2017 to Mr. Kwon, I wrote on the card that I was surprised and pleased that you showed up suddenly. And unfortunately, Mr. Chung did not come and passed away at my opening in 1994.

'Wow! How can I not come your opening upon receiving that card?” He came and congratulated me. We are living in a busy and harsh world, but when the old days pass through, affection that is lying the back of one’s mind, shed tears as if yellow dandelion flowers raises its head.