Untitled, 2013

Cho creates her work by cutting or tearing thumbprint-sized circles of pliant hanji (mulberry) paper, applying them with oil paint and layering them, collage-like, on a canvas surface. The vivid color combinations resonate with natural elements--the green of foliage, blue of sky and water, the orange and red of sunsets or blood. The artist has said that the circles are a symbolic reference to the recent death of her father. Her process is not automatic, rather a deliberate one that may take a day, week, month or year. Cho's work subscribes to the Asian notion that something vital is realized from an essential emptiness through energy and the act of creation.