Cube Peony #1, 92x82cm, paper, hangi, pigment, 2024

Eunjung Rhee constructs dimensional reliefs from folded paper, layering them with hanji and then painting motifs from traditional Korean minhwa—symbols of prosperity and beauty. Her process merges the meditative discipline of origami with the tactile depth of traditional craft, transforming flat geometry into vibrant fields of structure and color.

In her compositions, geometric abstraction becomes both a framework and a metaphor. The cube—precise yet infinite—multiplies across the surface like a rhythmic code, creating optical movement and spatial illusion. Beneath and within these modular forms, Rhee paints the lush imagery of minhwa, allowing the organic and the constructed, the spiritual and the material, to coexist in dynamic tension.

The result is a poetic geometry where tradition breathes within abstraction—a contemporary reinterpretation of bu-gwi-yeong-hwa (富貴榮華, wealth and glory) that invites viewers to discover harmony between order and life’s blooming vitality.