I first saw Korean Ch'aekorri still life paintings while visiting my son there last year. The heavy symbolism, distinctive colours and strange inverted perspective had a strong effect on me, and has consequently begun seep into some of my recent work.

Still Life with Orchid (Ch'aekorri style) was a result of giving in to the influence and seeing what happens. In Korea, these compositions are often painted on screens, so tend to have tall and thin proportions. It was only after completing the painting that I looked more closely at the originals, and was surprised at just how much of the style, colours, content and compositional devices I had unconsciously absorbed.

Korean Ch'aekorri examples