Your work fuses photography and painting with silhouettes that don’t have clear outlines and textured surfaces featuring shreds of torn paper and lace. Could you describe your work process?

To maintain the same spirit as the exhibition title, “A Mystery Travel”, I will remain mysterious when it comes to my creative process. I will however enlighten you: it’s the photographic character which inspires me at the beginning of painting. The main objective is to provoke an emotion, not to achieve a perfect technique.
Having worked at home for many years, one would mistake me for a hermit. I had such limited contact with anyone, working in a cluttered apartment, where I gave myself the near impossible task of creating large format artworks. Now I feel fortunate to have my own studio, something that has changed my creative life.

Describe the significance of the title of your new exhibition “A Mystery Travel”?

Being connected, maintaining a link, and not losing the thread, are some of the keys to my work. My femininity is apparent within my paintings. The title refers to a feeling – an inner quest, pondering the meaning of life, the mystery of life.

How do you define your own work?

I believe my work is intended to portray a kind of journey. My intention is not to try define my paintings; there is no manual for interpretation – every individual reacts with their emotions. I appreciate when collectors tell me that they have been staring at my paintings for many years, never finding them mundane, or simply decorative objects. The intimate dialogue between collectors and my works is my most beautiful reward.

Need to Know: “A Mystery Travel” by Corine Ko is at The Doorway Gallery, 24 South Frederick Street, Dublin 2, until February 19; www.thedoorwaygallery.com.