All to Myself
2022 | BALLPOINT PENS, GEL PENS
11” x 13”
Imagine a world with everything you loved: all your favorite activities, food, clothing, games, candy, sports, music… but nobody lived there but you.
This artwork started as creating just for the love of it. I wanted to draw arcade machines and my real-life possessions; I wanted to draw in isometric perspective and build it up like a puzzle, with no plan other than to keep adding elements that were part of my identity at the time. I enjoyed finding pictures of all my favorite things and creatively building them in, thinking about how the world worked, such as a rollercoaster connecting everything and hidden meaning in every single element.
This work concluded my senior year of high school, with roughly 62 hours of work and 100 reference images bringing it to completion
This was possibly the least stressful art project I’ve ever made. I went into it with no vision of the final product. I just started drawing items I loved until it was full.
The Process:
I always knew I was going to start with an arcade. I love the atmosphere of arcades, the vibrancy and chaos. It was the perfect hub for everything to stem from.
Plus, I really loved this game, Pump It Up, the Korean version of Japan’s Dance Dance Revolution.
every single detail is tied to something in Real life.
Every candy in the candy store was referenced by a candy I liked. The climbing gym has routes that I set (created), and shares the same name and logo as my home gym. The concert stage is surrounded by albums I loved at the time.
Nothing was made up.
My favorite section is the concert stage.
Since I grew up playing games on the PlayStation 1 and Xbox 360, I reimagined these as a stage, complete with a walkway for the performers and audience seating. Simultaneously capturing my love of music and nostalgic video games.
