Jean Oh

Sewn Painting Series (Textiles)

2025

Sewing on nobang fabric (Korean traditional silk)

Size Varies, 7in - 150 inches

The clusters of fabric shift dramatically depending on the viewer’s angle and position.
What first appears as a single form soon fragments into multiple layers, each suggesting its own story.
One viewer described the moment as if the fabric, or the people within it, were quietly turning to look back at them.

As people move through the space, walking behind the layers of fabric, their bodies become faintly visible.
In those moments, drawings that had been hidden begin to flicker into view.

Depending on the light and angle, the fabric's colors and the folds' contrasts shift, changing the atmosphere and the drawings that appear.

Depending on the light and angle, the fabric's colors and the folds' contrasts shift, changing the atmosphere and the drawings that appear.

The front and back are exposed differently.
Stitched lines that resist the sewing machine, tangled threads, and fabric unintentionally pulled in all remain visible.
While a painting typically reveals only its surface, this work lays bare the entire process , the missteps, the tension, and the acts of repair. In a way, it is more exposed, more vulnerably honest.

Title: Flyfall

Medium: Sewing on nobang fabric (Korean traditional silk) 

Size: 78” x 70”

Year: 2025

Some figures emerge only in brightness, while others appear only in darkness—emphasizing the instability between visibility and invisibility.

I use hand stitching as well when the sewing machine alone can't fix or recover what has gone off course.
It’s a way of responding, sometimes instinctively, sometimes intentionally, depending on the moment.
Hand stitching adds a different rhythm and texture that the machine can’t replicate. It carries its own pace and presence.

Some figures emerge only in brightness, while others appear only in darkness—emphasizing the instability between visibility and invisibility.

I use hand stitching as well when the sewing machine alone can't fix or recover what has gone off course.
It’s a way of responding, sometimes instinctively, sometimes intentionally, depending on the moment.
Hand stitching adds a different rhythm and texture that the machine can’t replicate. It carries its own pace and presence.

Nobang fabric also creates contrast between front and back. The front appears delicate and refined, while the back exposes raw seams and tangled threads—like hidden scars. This reflects how, no matter how much we try to control and refine, instability and disruption always remain

Nobang fabric also creates contrast between front and back. The front appears delicate and refined, while the back exposes raw seams and tangled threads—like hidden scars. This reflects how, no matter how much we try to control and refine, instability and disruption always remain

Details of the work

Details of the work

Back Side of the work

Should Be There
2024
Sewing on nobang fabric (Korean traditional silk)
80” x 50”

Back Side of the work

Wait List I & II (Installation view and details)

2021

Sewing on nobang fabric (Korean silk)

66” x 59” and 76” x 18”

Wait List I (Installation view and details)

2021

Sewing on nobang fabric (Korean silk)

66” x 59”