What if we could see each individual's personal history, the struggles, the anxieties, the complexities, unraveling onion-like before us? Korean-American printmaker Chunwoo Nam's art seeks to fill in the gaps of what is unknown about the Other, making visible the unseen sides of the story, and viewers can't help but wax compassionate.

In his artist statement, Nam reveals how the experience of cultural isolation has led him to empathize with others: "In the ‘Individual Story' series, I try to represent how I've dealt with the complexities of identity, estrangement, culture bias, linguistic barriers, and social pressures in my life's journey." Applying what he knew of his own struggle with the inner-world, outer-façade tension, led him "to construct an ‘alternative identity' for several individuals I have encountered," he says. "Instead of cosmetically and superficially sketching what is physically conspicuous, I wish to unveil the less apparent underpinnings as these individual lives unfold."

Along the left wall of the space are five triptychs, each provoking you to puzzle out the meanings behind the grouping of images. There is a pattern to the prints: the left sides of the triptychs are mostly empty, brightly colored blocks, with a linear form or two. The middle images are characterized by high detail, and in most of them, a pink shadowy ghost of a protagonist interacts with his environment. The right frame always contains vertical streaks that imply a fall, accompanied by a falling shadow of a person and another outlined figure. Though anonymous and faceless, the environments and gestures give us plenty of information about the artwork's inhabitants.

In "Individual Space IV," the royal purple left side contains a tiara-wearing faceless woman, half hiding behind a mask of a king lifted from a deck of cards. The extremely detailed center contains the tiny existence of a studio apartment, a lonely scene somehow completed by the belts hanging from water pipes overhead. A pink ghost form forlornly sits on the bed, with an empty wine bottle at his feet. On the right, a linear woman form points upward, and the shadow figure in the background is careening. The right-side pairings leave me wondering if the figures are different people, or two sides of the same emotionally complex individual.

Nam's linear forms give the barest information about gesture, but perfectly convey the depth of emotion he means to show us. Viewing his art sparked the idea that being immersed in a culture and encumbered by a language barrier automatically makes a person adept at semiotics.

On the left side of "Individual Story II," someone's toes slightly overlap in a vague cringe away from a group of ants. The center shows what appears to be an urban schoolyard, and a semicircle of chairs stand in the middle of an abandoned, grassy basketball court. The right-hand image shows the shadowy figure curled in a fetal position; both the shadow and the linear figure are covering their eyes. This piece conveys alienation, emptiness, and fear.

The opposite wall of the space holds the "faces" etchings series, which according to Nam serves to "emphasize how I perceive and remember each blessed individual in my life." In these prints, individual identity is now included, though obscured by his characteristic focus on symbols, which overlap the solemn faces amid glowing color.

"Individual Face II" is made of vivid reds and oranges, with outlined hands and flowers overlapping the barely perceptible face. Viewers must step back to tease out the face, softly glowing amid the topography-like contours.

The bespeckled person in "Individual Face VI" face gazes out of shadow and through the linear form of blind Justice, who points a finger into the picture plane. Scratchings of lettering and geometric forms seems alchemistic, and adds to the air of secrecy.

One of the two circular etchings in the series is "Individual Face - My Love," in which a smiling, beautiful bride confronts us with a coyly cocked head. Over her face the linear form of a child is curled in a fetal position, and covers her face as if in a wrenching attack of grief. The private narrative includes a pair of shoes, and jagged topographical contours which cover the piece.

The tiny print "Fish" is titled after the least apparent image in the print. Here we see a close up of a bespeckled face, layered over by the bust segment of a reclining nude woman with beautifully articulated breasts and collarbone. Along her arm, darkly, is a highly detailed fish.

Though the prints are very mysterious and often difficult to decode, most people will find themselves able to relate to the lithograph "Individual Space III." The print shows the interior of a jumbled secondhand bookstore in seriously studied realism. I am at home with that cozy mess of shambly stacks, the thrill of discovery, the walls of books busting from flimsy shelves. Lines of stacks pull you into the space, where you navigate the depth of narrow passages, become absorbed, disappear.

The private narratives are of individual lives, but each story is woven with the common yarns of alienation, solitude, anxiety, and yearning. Nam uses the anonymous struggles to turns private life on its head: we can imagine the immense depth behind each façade, the other sides of the stories, and the facets of a person unseen until compassion illuminates them.

Individual Story

By Chunwoo Nam

Through November 28

Rush Rhees Art and Music Library, UR River Campus

275-4471, library.rochester.edu

Mon-Thu 9 a.m.-10 p.m.; Fri 9 a.m.-6 p.m.; Sat noon-5 p.m.; Sun noon-10 p.m.