Reuben Jarvis Mabry (ì²ìš´) Cheong-Un. Artist Bio
Much of Reuben's professional life was in the military, flying AH-64D Helicopters, training and deploying to foreign countries; arguably far from art. However, he kept a sketch book on hand, some paper near by, and some paints to keep his sanity in a crazy profession like the military.
Reuben is originally from Tennessee and grew up in a multicultural(half Korean/American) and military family. He graduated from Austin Peay State University in 2008 with a BA in Studio Art concentrating in painting. After college, he commissioned into the US Army as a helicopter pilot and did a little over eight years on Active Duty; served overseas three times; Korea, and Afghanistan twice. He is a graduate of UNC at Chapel Hill's MFA program in studio arts.
He situates himself between abstraction and representation. His current body of work examines systems of power and how ideologies function within the contemporaneous framework we live in today. He is influenced by art historical figures from Korea, China, Japan, and international contemporary artists. He works to create paintings and drawings that are an amalgamation of process driven research, examination, reflection and intuition- balancing both control and chaos.
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