White table

An white table painting

 Edward Hopper (1882-1967) was an American realist painter and printmaker. He mainly painted the daily lives of marginalized people in big cities where everyone is lonely. On October 24, 1929, the New York stock market crashed. In short, it was the beginning of that historic economic great devastation. Prosperous companies went bankrupt, the unemployed filled the streets, and there was the worst deflation. In the 1920s, the era of success when anyone had hope and achieved something was over. Literally everyone went broke.

​ Edward Hopper quietly captured the lives of urbanites living in loneliness and weary life during the economic hardships of the 1930s on a canvas. In his paintings, there was no corona at that time, but everyone is keeping a 6-feet distance. Their distance seems to show the loneliness of city dwellers who don't want to be close anymore but stay by their side out of necessity. The people in his paintings did not make eye contact and look at a sense of melancholy or isolation. 

Hotel room, 1931

Office at night, 1940

Room in New York, 1940

Nighthawks, 1942, Chicago Art Institute

When we are in trouble or feel sad and depressed, we want to go into our own quiet space and calm our minds. So when I see Edward Hopper's paintings, I always think of the energy of space.  It was the same with the 6-feet area I experienced during the pandemic and the room that Hopper drew 90 years ago. All the blanks give the fear that the empty will never fill it. It feels like an indelible time fixed on the canvas, like the distance of a hopper in a painting. 

 I want to invite people who are suffering from being trapped in this space. Of course, it is not a physical space, but a space in the picture. So I placed a white chair close enough for a few people to sit and make eye contact. And put a white round table in the middle. Then, in order to avoid finding a place to sit, I set the composition slightly to the right and pull the chair slightly on the left. 

​ So sit here in this chair!  And I put red flowers in the center of the table. 

White table, 2021, Myungja Anna Koh

I hope that the bright light from the pretty lamp pouring from above will brightly comfort our hearts. 

 After overcoming all difficulties since last year, I looked around and saw the heroes who fought for us. My daughter's friend mother is a nurse, and she fought fiercely at the forefront of the war called Corona last year. She sincerely cared for sick corona patients. But, when the patient died suddenly, she said that she was sad as if her heart were torn. So she couldn't go home right away to calm her sad heart, but instead got into the car and drove down the road until she calmed down. 

 How would we live without these angels like her. I gave her a picture in the hope that even for a moment that sad heart could rest in this little picture. I am so sorry that the only thing I can give to the heroes who risked their lives for us is a piece of paper.

Could there be a scene next time sitting at this round table and laughing and chatting? 
Thanks to our heroes, we are already living that way.