Artist: 미미 (이미연) / MeMe
Artistic style: Hope and Courage through the journey of PIGME
Biggest artistic influence: Kusama Yayoi
Studio: Chungdam-dong, Seoul
Meet MeMe: An artist whose art centers around the journey of ‘PIGME’, a charming character who serves as an artistic symbol of the modern people who are exhausted in and/or by society. MeMe started her career as an artist when she found myself feeling burnt out while working as a visual merchandising designer for a major company in South Korea. She started creating at the young age of 14, and went on to graduate with a BA in Cartoon Art and MA in Visual Art Design. MeMe has won several prizes to date for her art, including The Italian Art Festival (Hosted by the Korea Art Promotion Agency), and the International Contemporary Art Competition. MeMe has also appeared in an art TV programme and collaborated with several Korean companies. Meme has also recently launched collaborative products with Samsung. Her piece, Dream of My Life, which Meme prizes as her favourite piece she has created from amongst her ‘WANTED’ series, won the prize in the TV show ‘No Money No Art’.
Celebrating simple yet joyful sensations, MeMe’s acrylic and mixed-media paintings indulge everyday pleasures and explore their properties in a riot of pastel brights: the ooze of ice-cream, the crisp of candy, the squish of jelly. Recurring motifs in this child-like universe include hearts and rainbows and peace signs, headed by the PIGME cartoon character whose hungry heart-filled eyes are symbolic of unrestrained contemporary desires.
Meme claims PIGME as an alter-ego, giving the little pig long rabbit ears as a way to refer to the timidity she often feels, and how she finds hope and courage when looking through her ‘heart goggles’. Her hope is to continue my work for people in society who have lost self-confidence and happiness with ‘PIGME’, a symbol of positiveness and delivering a message of hope.
At the time of our interview, Meme was working on her ‘WANTED’ series which is a capture of PIGME’s happy moments. PIGME is born as a pig who lacks self-confidence, so her ears are always down, and her mouth is small because of her fainthearted personality. It looks like we, including me, are living in a contemporary society, but PIGME goes on a journey with heart-shaped goggles, which is a medium of paradise that she is looking for. Her journey completes a surreal utopia for all childish adults who are looking for their dreams with their childhood minds.
Meme believes that the role of contemporary artists is “to practice and challenge consistently for the development and become a pioneer of contemporary art and culture.”
When starting new pieces, Meme begins by “thinking of my own utopia”. Sharing with me a little bit more about what this means, she added that “I look for happy moments in my daily life. I explore the senses around me and record them. The happiness that I felt during this process becomes the work by visualising in three-dimensional.” When she has the idea of what she wishes to create, Meme paints the background “with my colour of emotion” to express the happy moments freely. When that part of the piece is complete, she sketches PIGME in and just enjoys the process naturally. When she faces creative blocks, Meme stops working so that she is able to refresh her thoughts. “Sometimes,” she shared, “I visit an exhibition or look for uniqueness in my daily life so that I can have the more creative inspiration.”.
MeMe shared with me that “finding a common point between contemporary pop art and traditional painting is a difficult process. Creating the extended at world needs both time and willingness to overcome several creative challenges. However,” she added, “sometimes, pop art is not regarded as art but attitudes are changing, and I keep going my way with the belief that each form of contemporary art should be respected.”
MeMe also shared with me that she feels comforted during the process of creating the work. In fact, she enjoys the process so much, that she feels she was meant to be an artist. “As an artist,” she shared, “it is wonderful that people love my work.” Meme hopes that her audience find a “precious milestone in their lives as independent individuals. My lovely PIGME, who resembles us, is free from the biological lacks and prejudice of society and has an endless journey, looking for her own paradise.”
MeMe’s advice to aspiring artists: A new challenge can be a milestone, even though there might be a failure, especially when you try to overcome that failure. Don’t focus on the present challenge and success as an artist but do your best so that it could be a meaningful process when you remind your whole artistic life.
