Izzy Cho is an interdisciplinary charm maker based in Chicago, IL. Cho’s work engages with symbolism, semiotics, and visual patterns derived from her Korean American identity, often within the context of superstition, to discuss transnationalism and celebration. Cho is a recipient of the David McCosh Memorial Scholarship in Fine Arts, the Angela and George Paterakis Scholarship, the Margot and Thomas Pritzker Graduate Fellowship, and was chosen as a finalist for the Luminarts Fellowship. Cho received her BFA in Printmaking from the University of Oregon and an MFA in Printmedia from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
I am enchanted by the conjunction of magic and utilitarianism within the superstitions I inherited as a Korean American. Superstition within the everyday is a sign of cultural persistence, however, the generational burdens that come attached allude to inherited traumas and archaic systems of politeness and obligation. I poke fun yet revere these cultural structures by mimicking manifestations of good luck, such as charms and rituals, then applying scale shifts, repetition, and formal abstractions.
Traditional adornments, like a norigae, are blown up and multiplied into armfuls of floral polygons, all assembled from cardboard templates. Accessing languages of labor, efficiency, and accessibility through subversion of material hierarchy not only points towards the role of capitalism in cultural longevity but questions the logic behind the magic (i.e. Does the bigger the charm mean the more the luck?). Fluorescent colors and computer generated graphic silhouettes further distort my source material and borrow from strategies of cuteness and commodity. As my garden of shapes and symbology continues to grow, my throughlines stay the same: the study of antiquity, ruminations on my mother’s lessons, and my personal diaspora. This synthesis of my source material parallels my experience witnessing the globalization of Korean culture which has restructured the meaning of cultural objects and imagery.
Ultimately, every piece of DIY luck I make is a hopeful conduit to connect with my heritage. My practice will always be an earnest but humorous attempt to pay homage to a transnational upbringing influenced by the internet and mediated by my mother. Through techniques of (mis)translation, I create mimicries based on everyday rituals that contribute to my ever-growing echo chamber of iconography and nostalgia associated with a third culture.