Kyung-me is at 22 year old illustrator who works primarily with black ink. She works in New York City.
FROM YOUR DESKS: How do you work?
LO KYUNG ME: I alternate between drawing and reading. I am always listening to music while I work so I don’t get lonely.
FYD: What is your favorite sentimental object at your workspace and why?
LKM: My books and magazines are very important so I keep them close for reference. I like to look through a bunch of books/magazines before starting to draw — it makes me excited to begin my own work for the day.
I think all the characters are me…
FYD: What is your favorite or most required work tool?
LKM: My skinny pens.
FYD: What do you love about black and white?
LKM: It’s clean. I like the idea of something being absolutely present or completely absent. Black against white is incredibly beautiful to me. I hope to expand to color works one day.
FYD: Talk about Sada and A Long Divorce– what is going on in those rooms? (*please click on image to enlarge).
LKM: My first drawing ‘A Long Divorce’ was unplanned –meaning no thumbnail drawing or mapped structure. Over a period of three months, I drew whatever came to mind that day. In a way, the piece serves as a diary from that time. I was very anxious during that time. I think it comes out in the drawing. This drawing is special to me because I consider it to be my first drawing. Previously I had not drawn in my free time nor did I ever think about conceiving my own images — this was the first drawing that I spent more than one hour on. Since then, I have my drawing all the time.
I loosely based ‘Sada” off of the story of Sada Abe and her lover Kichizo Ishida. In 1936, a Sada Abe gained notoriety in accidentally choking her lover to death. The two allegedly spent all of their time alone together a room in a brothel, separated from everyone else. In the center right of the drawing, there are two lovers enclosed in a small room, oblivious of the sludge outside. The flies don’t bite them there.
Black against white is incredibly beautiful to me.
FYD: What kind of characters fill your drawings – do they repeat or are you creating new characters?
LKM: In general, I think all of the characters are me – maybe just at different times of the day.
LKM: Most of my dreams take place in the same lagoon. I am usually swimming in bright blue water.
FYD: What kind of film or art or literature inspires you?
LKM: My favorite artists include: Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Katsuhiro Otomo, Toshio Saeki, Osamu Tezuka, Suehiro Maruo, Philippe Mohlitz, Gustave Doré, Charles Burns, Uno Moralez, M.C. Escher, and Kardinsky.
FYD: What do you do when you’re not working?
LKM: Drinking wine or eating yogurt and going to shows now and then.
Stay up with Kyung-me latest works on tumblr here.