Dreams Are Made Of

Text by Yuna Kim. Images courtesy of Dain Yoon.

Sometimes the optical illusions portray Dain Yoon blending into the scenery outside her Brooklyn studio. Sometimes, they present Michelangelo’s The Last Supper on her forehead.

Yoon has been creating such hyper-realistic, Photoshopped-esque paintings on her body for the past decade using nothing more than paint and brush.

Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Yoon ventured into the art world at the age of nine. She was partly inspired by her mother’s career as a fine artist and partly out of her desire to avoid mandatory extracurricular activities that weren’t required in art schools.

“I had to spend 14 hours a day painting in elementary and middle school,” she says. “At an age where children are supposed to run and jump, I was a machine. A true Korean!” 

Ten years later, her machine-like work ethic has amassed her over half a million followers on Instagram and features in the likes of Vogue. Her most recent project was her most personal and most ambitious — her own all-pink, DIY’d wedding.

Yoon now looks forward to a solo exhibition in Busan, South Korea in May. She admits she has no concept for the show or plans to work on just yet. 

“It’ll come to me eventually,” she says with a laugh. “It always does.”

Until then, she waits for her inspiration to galga mukuh (갉아 먹어), the Korean term for gnawing or chipping away at something, which in this case is herself.

Because for Yoon, that’s exactly how each of her works come to fruition, by letting an idea slowly eat her alive until it’s time to put brush on skin.

Yoon takes us behind the scenes into six of her career-defining “faces.”

Falling Angels

“I wanted to depict cherubs in a beautiful way. Usually, I do a lot of creepy things but for this I wanted it to be beautiful. And this took six to seven hours. I draw on my face so I can’t spend a day or weeks to finish. Everything needs to be done in a day.”

Sleepless Night (Birthday Series)

“Every birthday, I try to make a piece of work to celebrate myself. Because I was living such a harsh life, I feel like I need to celebrate myself. Otherwise, it’s just miserable. And I really love candles as a medium. This is one of my first series where I tried to experiment with candle wax.”

The Last Supper with Dain

“One of my favorite things is to make familiar things unfamiliar. For example, taking something really popular and giving it a twist and making it new. So, when I went to Italy and saw The Last Supper in person, I was overwhelmed and I wanted to put that in my brain.”

Ceci n’est pas un Magritte

“I went to the Magritte Museum in Belgium in 2019 and I thought the painting was really cool, particularly the pearl. So, just from that pearl, this came to be.”

Cuba

“It was really hot, almost 40 degrees celsius. It was really difficult. This is why I don’t really like doing painting somewhere outside because whenever it’s too hot for me, the paint is not fully dry. It’s very difficult to keep putting paint on a face. But I started so I had to finish it. This one didn’t take that long… less than three hours.”

Pranking the Dentist

“I had a cavity so I went to the dentist in Korea. So I had to make a mold for my teeth. The assistant showed me the molds and said, ‘This is your teeth shape,’ and showed me the tiny sculptures. So I asked, ‘Do you need them? Can I take them?’ Then I painted on the cast and put it in my mouth!”