Seong Chon
Los Angeles, CA
“I like art because I have choices to make whatever I want to make.”
Seong Chon (he/him/his) is a dynamic artist, working primarily as a painter, graphic media designer, and a photographer. Much of Chon’s painting and design work focuses on his perspective of his Korean heritage. Chon often starts with an image of a Korean landscape, architecture, or cultural totem; he calls these images his “launching pad." In the early stages of his design concept, he challenges himself to reach a point where he has been faithful and authentic in representing his culture. Once he has passed this threshold, Chon gives himself creative license to add elements and adornments from his imagination to finish the piece.
As a photographer, Chon is fascinated by the human figure. His vision and technique have been influenced by Robert Mapplethorpe and the great portraiture of modern photography. Chon seeks to capture the personality of his subject, presenting not only their physical persona, but their spirit. He aspires to document who someone is at a place and time, stating, “Their portrait will live on, and it tells a story—their story.”
Chon utilizes the strength and dexterity of his entire body to control adaptive devices worn on his left foot. With his foot, Chon can operate switches to operate and adjust his camera, design images on photoshop, or sketch and then paint an oversized canvas panel. His work is a representation of culture with dynamic composition, color, lines, and shapes that begin in his head and travel through his body until they are “whipped out” by his foot.
Seong Chon is originally from South Korea and has been making art since 2008. He currently attends the art program at Momentum Creative, formerly United Cerebral Palsy of Los Angeles (UCPLA). The program supports a vigorous community of working artists with a variety of developmental challenges such as autism, cerebral palsy, and down syndrome, whose perspective is vital within the contemporary art world.