The memory is still vivid in artist Debora Koo’s mind. She was 4 years old when she was invited to a friend’s house for a birthday party. She couldn’t take her eyes off the neon pink birthday cake with sugar crystal lettering and Wilton decorations in the shapes of flowers, hearts and “all the girly things,” Koo recalls.
“I was in awe when I saw that cake,” said Koo, now an artist, professor, wife and mother living in Charlotte. “Those are the cakes that I love to paint. I think the colors are fun, and they're connected with an experience from my childhood.”
Koo’s family had just moved from Korea to Madison, Wisconsin, where her father was pursuing a PhD in electrical engineering. The party invitation came from a friend who was also Korean American. Koo captures the sense of belonging she felt that day in tablescapes and other still life she paints as a professional artist. She often focuses on food — and the comfort of sweets in particular — using lighting, positioning, and scope to tell her story. If she includes a figure, the face is usually cropped out.
“It's more relatable to other people if they can imagine themselves or some other people being the figures in there,” Koo explained. “I like the ambiguity as well because some of the figures are actually from my experiences. And I don't want to put my face in there. I feel like it would distract the viewer from what I'd like to portray.”
Koo teaches art at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and paints at a studio in Camp North End. Koo’s artwork has appeared in New York City, and she has upcoming shows in November at the Blah Blah Gallery in Philadelphia and in March at Tube Culture Hall in Milan, Italy.
As a child, Koo moved from Korea to Madison, WI to Palo Alto, Calif., to Andover, Mass. The one constant was her love for art. She and her brother John, who is a year older, loved the cartoon “Calvin and Hobbes” and used to draw all of the characters, as well as some of their own.
“We really connected through art,” she said. “My brother was also always better at me in all things, including art, so it kept me motivated and going.”
She took art classes and joined after-school art programs, but it wasn’t until her time at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. that Koo began to consider a career as an artist. One of her art professors had a class paint an assortment of pastries she'd brought from a nearby bakery. That made a lasting impression.
“They were little cakes and cupcakes, tarts,” Koo said. “She put them on bright cloths and shined a lamp on them. They were making my mouth water painting them.”
When it came time for a senior art show, she struggled with what to paint. She thought her theme should be something contemporary and modern.
“One of my painting professors said ‘You know, you don’t have to do all those things that seem cool to you,” Koo said. “You can do what you love to paint.”
She painted a series of still life scenes that included plated food and drapery.
After college, while Koo was searching for graduate programs, her father suggested she return to Korea for an art program there. She was hesitant.
“My Korean is pretty terrible,” she said. “But I tried. In a sense, I was a little desperate to keep painting and studying.”
Three years later, having built her portfolio, she was hired at Rowan-Cabarras, which has campuses in Concord and Salisbury, in 2018. She met her husband, got married and they now have a 16-month-old son.
Painting food and other still life scenes is still her passion. One of her favorite pieces is called “Love Seat” which is a painting of a couch with a floral pattern.
“I love the lighting in that painting and the way I was able to paint the floral pattern,” Koo said.