The Rhythm of the Rainy Night, 2023

Acrylic paint, Recycled Corrugated Cardboard, Crushed Glass for Resin, Kancan Denim

“The category of urban street fashion is very broad, so I became interested. The strength of street fashion is that you can express your own concept and style even if you mix and match with clothes of any category, so I think it's a really interesting part.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Boyoun Lee is a fashion designer based in Los Angeles, California. Boyoun was originally born in South Korea. Her art was influenced by her mother and grandfather as they were both artistic beings, specializing in calligraphy. With that being said, Boyoun was introduced to art at an early age and her passion has only grown since. After graduating from an art university located in South Korea, she continued her love for fashion by studying merchandise and product development in San Francisco. After graduating with her second degree,  Boyoun’s interest in traditional patterns leads her to work in a Korean threading company as a designer to further her curiosity in fashion design. Eventually, Boyoun produced an impressive portfolio in design which includes having worked for a variety of designers in footwear and women’s clothing. After researching and developing a niche for urban streetwear, she began her journey creating stunning designs as a fashion designer at a denim company.

MEANING OF DENIM

For someone like Boyoun, denim is the basis and completion of urban street fashion. Denim comes in different washes and fabrics yet is extremely durable to create expressive fashion pieces. When she thinks of the versatility of denim, she believes that denim has changed and blended fashion styles together to create new, trendy styles. Especially urban street fashion, allowed her to express complex concepts and styles while being able to mix different categories.

     

ABOUT THE WORK

Boyoun’s Kancan x Artist piece is titled “The Rhythm of the Rainy Night”. The piece portrays the harmony between humans and denim.  Made with acrylic paint, recycled cardboard, and crushed glass for resin art, the different elements showcase the unity and versatility of the denim. She mentions the infinite charm that denim holds. By creating the characteristics, it is expressed through her art piece. To create her piece, Boyoun recycled our denim to create strips, rolls, and tattered pieces to create different characteristics of how denim can be seen. Vibrant solid metallic hues painted over textured cardboard display the rain washing over the city in an interminable flux of perception. And the rolled-up denim can be seen as “bokeh”, a flash of light that is spread on the rainy streets to express the night scenery. She combined these art pieces with two women wearing heels to represent women integrated with denim.  

“What I wanted to express in this artwork focused on the beauty of women and the combination of denim and landscape.”