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PARRHASIUS KAZI
Leeah Joo
leeahjoo.com
@leeahjoo
May- August, 2026

Leeah Joo is a Korean-American painter based in Connecticut. Born in 1971 in Seoul, Leeah was raised by a sculptor father and an illustrator mother. At age ten, her family moved to Indianapolis, where she spent her youth. She studied painting and art history at Indiana University in Bloomington and received her MFA in painting from Yale School of Art. Her paintings have exhibited widely in the U.S. and South Korea and recognized with awards from Pollock Krasner, George Sugarman Foundation and Connecticut Commission on Arts. Since 1996, she has taught and served as visiting artist at many institutions including the Kansas City Art Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, Hartford Art School and Fairfield University. She lives and paints in Middlebury and teaches at Southern CT State University

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Zeuxis and Parrhasius: Zeuxis was born in Heraclea sometime around 464 BCE and was said to be the student of Apollodorus. Parrhasius (or Parrhasios) of Ephesus was a contemporary of Zeuxis. Both artists produced works on both wooden panels and frescoes on walls, unfortunately none of their work survives. The two were said to be the best painters of the fourth century BCE. The elder Pliny recorded a myth surrounding a competition between the two painters. It is said that Zeuxis created grapes that were so realistic that birds saw the image and attempted to eat them. Shortly after he went to view Parrhasius painting, and asked that the curtain be lifted so he could look at the image only to discover that the curtain was itself the painting. Zeuxis acknowledged his defeat, because while he had tricked birds the curtain of Parrhasuis had deceived a man and fellow artist.

-Brown University, Archeologies of the Greek Past

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20x20", oil on panel, 2023

Kazi: (often spelled Pojagi or Bojagi) refers to traditional Korean patchwork or wrapping cloths and not a single type of fabric. These textiles are a form of Korean traditional art, historically created by sewing together small scraps of fabrics—such as silk, cotton, hemp, or ramie—into larger cloths. Used by all social classes to wrap, store, or carry items, they symbolize good fortune, longevity, and respect.

                                                                                   -Victoria and Albert Museum

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