StarCraft

This series was created in 2007. It consists of paintings of StarCraft game screens, rendered in acrylic on canvas. At the time, I was deeply interested in coded languages. To my younger self, contemporary art felt highly codified. I remember reading Bourdieu’s Distinction and Henri Bergson’s Laughter around that time. Naturally, I began to bring the language of subcultures into my work.

At the time, StarCraft remained a largely underground phenomenon in South Korea. It lived in the “PC bangs” — underground spaces filled with cigarette smoke, cup noodles, and Welch’s grape soda. People would lose track of time, immersed in the game until morning without even realizing it. And yet, the gaming industry was massive, with unofficial broadcasts airing matches between pro gamers.

I wanted to capture the most exquisite moment—when those who speak the language of the game all hold their breath, and then a few seconds later, erupt into collective cheering. That kind of coded communication, and that moment of shared eruption, carries a powerful emotional charge. It's like the feeling of a private memory becoming a code between two people—a surge of emotion when the code connects. It’s like one of Yaeji-joo’s jokes (a Korean lesbian YouTuber)—something you either get, or you don’t.

The last piece in the series, StarCraft#3, was an attempt to visualize the real-life scale of a StarCraft map—just how much space the players are actually controlling. I wanted to present that space like a landscape painting. This piece captures the late-game screen from a well-known pro match. Alongside it, I exhibited an abstract bust of Lim Yo-hwan (aka SlayerS_BoxeR), the most famous pro gamer of that era.