PROJECT STATEMENT I MANHEE BAK

Transforming cityscape structure of Long Island City around me has been an acute experience. The constantly changing city makes me dizzy, and dazzles me into feeling somewhat lost.

Oddly on the streets there are abandoned objects everywhere from all of the demolished sites: rusty metal, aged wood, broken concrete, & glass all around. These materials expose the historic stories of a once living, and now extinguished moment of humanity that I have an emotional attachment to, so I take them to use in my art.

With their characteristic components I select, alter, and combine to show my view of the city. I question what this city means to me and to others: old, new, rich, or poor, happy, or sadness... Who are we really?


Manhee Bak is a visual artist born in S. Korea came to New York City in 1994 received his MFA at the City College of New York / CUNY in 1999. He currently lives and works in Long Island City, New York. He had eight solo shows and multiple group shows in the US, Japan and S. Korea