Meet Cha Yuree | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Cha Yuree and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Cha Yuree, why did you pursue a creative career?
In hindsight, I guess it was pretty obvious that I’d pursue an artistic career! Since I was a kid I’d always carry a bag of colored pencils, markers and a folder of different colored papers. I always wanted to draw, make or paint. But before fully pursuing a professional artistic practice, I was deep into a career of graphic and product design. As I spent most of my time fiddling with mouses and staring at screens, I really started to miss creating physical things with my hands again. On top of that, as a graphic designer you’re usually directed through feedback. So it’s nice to make my own decisions, and do something without needing anyone else’s opinion. It’s funny that it all seems to make sense when you step back and see the journey.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I come from a very large matriarchal family, filled with strong hard working women, and my art is often inspired by the women in my life. You can find in my work the same korean female character, and that is almost always a depiction of me or any woman in my life. I also share stories my grandmother told about adjusting to life in a new country. My work also touches on themes of inheritance, communion, my korean culture and attention to each other and to the natural world. My most previous works explore women in rest. My grandparents, family members had to work really hard when they moved to Canada, so my work was to give them moments of rest that they rarely had.

One significant aspect of my artistic process is color. It usually takes me the longest to choose a color palette. Looking and coming back to it for weeks. On average, I probably go through 10-20 different color palettes before I settle on one.

I’ve mentioned this lightly in my answers previously, but i was pretty burnt out after working years in graphic and product design. I’ve always wanted to live somewhere else outside of LA so i applied for an artist residency and got in. I immediately quit my job and went to a rural part of Japan to paint and just be for months. It was like a light switch, and thats how it all started. It made me fall in love with creating with my hands again, and I haven’t stopped since!

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Since COVID-19 hit, my life has changed a lot. I’m a pretty big homebody and or stay most days in my studio. But If my best friend was visiting for a week. I would squeeze in all the ‘big’ things’ (for a homebody) in a week.

Picnics are my favorite. I’d be thrilled if we could have a day to relax with friends in an outdoor park-like setting. A couple of places I can think of are LA Historic or Elysian Park. Another great option for a picnic or a day outdoors could be the Huntington Gardens. The Getty Center is another great place to look at art and architecture. and laying out a blanket in their fields.

For dinner, anything asian! And Korean would be my go to. We would have Korean bbq in Koreatown. Either go early at Yangmani, or galbi-jjim and army stew at Chomak.

If it’s the weekend, maybe a few bar hopping in Highland park? Goldline to Good Housekeeping, and all the bars inbetween.

Morning hangover food would be pho at Golden deli or gukbap (korean rice in hot soup) at Jinsol.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So many people have helped me on my art journey! My shoutout goes to Tara Anne Dalbow, Alexandria Green Silver, Taylor Lee, and all the other amazing artists out there. I didn’t go to school for art, so I was feeling pretty lost when I first started out. There were things I realized I didn’t know how to do, like talking about my work. I’m so grateful to the people who helped me figure it all out and turned my passion into a career. Big thanks to my dear friends Sara, Vicki, Jim, my family, and especially my partner, Peter, for the endless encouragement and for coming to every art opening 🙂 I also feel really lucky to have parents who have always encouraged me to pursue my art career.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cha.yuree/

Image Credits
Over the influence