Jade Jwa
Information
Artist Bio
I am a Korean American visual artist working primarily in oil painting, focused on figurative work that explores how attention, hierarchy, and presence are negotiated within shared space. Rather than relying on narrative or overt expression, my paintings use restraint, spatial relationships, and gesture to structure meaning.
I often work with familiar figures, allowing for sustained observation over time. Through repetition and reduction, I am interested in how bodies occupy space without asserting themselves as clear subjects, and how ambiguity can hold attention longer than explanation.
Having grown up in Korea and now living in California, my approach to identity is indirect—embedded in perception rather than symbolism. Painting becomes a process of deciding what is necessary and what can be withheld, inviting a slower, more attentive way of looking.
My work begins with quiet, everyday moments that are often overlooked. I paint figures absorbed in their own interior states: a body paused mid-gesture, a relationship held in proximity but not fully articulated. These paintings are not intended as narratives or portraits in the conventional sense, but as sites of attention where presence is conditional rather than declared.
I work primarily with people closest to me, not to document them, but because proximity allows for sustained observation. By returning to the same subjects over time, I can notice subtle shifts in posture, distance, and awareness. Repetition becomes a way to register change without forcing resolution, allowing ambiguity to remain part of the image.
Rather than pursuing clarity or emotional legibility, I am interested in restraint. I deliberately withhold expressive cues and narrative closure, treating incompletion not as a lack, but as a condition that mirrors how memory, intimacy, and identity are actually experienced—partial, unstable, and continuously unfolding. The paintings resist offering a definitive reading, asking the viewer to remain with uncertainty rather than resolve it.
As a Korean American artist, I once felt compelled to articulate identity directly through visible markers or themes. Over time, I came to understand identity as something that can exist quietly—embedded in perception, in spatial relationships, in what is emphasized or left unspoken. Letting go of overt representation has allowed my work to move toward a more interior and observational space, where meaning emerges through structure, pressure, and omission rather than explanation.
Ultimately, my practice is less concerned with describing who these figures are than with attending to how they occupy space, how relationships shift, and how moments resist being fully known. Painting becomes a way to stay with that unresolved state—to hold presence without closure, and to allow meaning to remain open.
Memberships / Affiliations
Associate Member, Los Angeles Art Association (LAAA), 2026
Awards / Honors
Award Winner, 12th PORTRAIT International Juried Art Competition, TERAVARNA, 2026
Education
Certificate in 2D Studio Art, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA, 2026
Certificate in Graphic Design, Glendale Community College, Glendale, CA, 2023
Certificate in Taxation, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, CA, 2009
MS in Accountancy, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, IL, 2005
BA in French Language and Literature at Seoul National University, South Korea, 2003
Previous Career
Senior Tax Analyst, Latham & Watkins LLP, Los Angeles, CA, 2009-2019
Tax Analyst, Hilton Hotels Corporation, Beverly Hills, CA, 2007-2009
Junior Accountant, Samsung SDI, Inc., Seoul, South Korea, 2003-2004