Moving is hard. I titled this work Seokurum Summer: Identity Crisis, but I always refer to it as The Summer of My Discontent. I painted it the first summer we lived in Wisconsin. The first few months in a new location are always fun for me. It's like being a tourist. I check out all of the shops, all of the museums, and all of the restaurants. I decorate my house and make plans for my garden. Then, reality sets in. Moving to Wisconsin was particularly difficult for me. In Korea, I had an amazing group of friends, all of the work I wanted teaching English, and a glorious foreign country to explore. When I moved to Wisconsin, I found myself with no friends, no job, and not enough sweaters. I decided that for the first time in my life I would devote myself to making art, and I quickly discovered that this simply was not enough to make me feel fulfilled. I was unhappy and disconcerted and felt like my life had been totally turned upside-down, but one really good thing came out of that period: this painting. It is one of my favorites, easily in the top three, and I would hard pressed to part with it.
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