Biography
BORN
1967 Chungnam, Suhsan, Korea
EDUCATION
1998 MFA, Academy of Art University, Sculpture Department, San Francisco, CA
1990 BFA, Seoul National University, Sculpture Department, Seoul, Korea
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2008 The Point shipyard Open Studio, Islais Creek Studios, San Francisco, CA
2007 ARTSPAN Open Studio, Islais Creek Studios, San Francisco, CA
2007 Solo Exhibition, KTVN Event Hall, Sunnyvale, CA
1998 Solo Exhibition, Marin Technology enter, San Rafael, CA
1998 Solo Exhibition, Bush Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2005 Group Exhibition, VIZ Gallery, Millbrae, CA
1999 Faculty Members of Academy of Art University Exhibition, Bush Art Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 Nine Members Exhibition, Insa Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1991 Three Members Exhibition, Dongsung Gallery, Korea
1990 Group Exhibition, Sinsa Gallery, Korea
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2000 – 2006 Metal Fabricator, 3D Studio, Oakland, CA
1997 – 1999 Teaching Assistant for Sculpture Department, Academy of Art University, San Francisco, CA
1991 – 1992 Sets Designer, KBS (Korean Broadcasting Corporation), Seoul, Korea
1990 Designer, 3D Design Company, Seoul, Korea
STATEMENT
For me, the creation of my sculpture has a spiritual aspect to it. I consider my actions like a “working meditation”. When I make sculptures, I see myself as a meditator who finds the truth about himself. Because I look within, to my unconscious and subconscious mind, I can see what I am. Through this process I feel my spirituality deepen, and rise out from within me.
Often, when I complete one of my sculptures, it seems that I have seen it before, even though it was formed only seconds ago. My spiritual philosophy tells me that this sculptural form may have existed in another dimension but has been manifested by me. Within me, I know there was a powerful force. I assume that something strong inspired me to make that particular form. So I look back at the process of making a sculpture in order to discover what this was.
When I make a sculpture, I often follow my intuition. Although this feeling can’t be described logically, it leads to an instant decision. Only after I finish a work, I do then contemplate it. Then I look into my deep, inner-self, and I try to identify the most intense feeling which manifested this work. This feeling becomes verbalized as a title. When the title captures the sense of my sculpture, it becomes a part of my visual vocabulary.
Even before I begin making a sculpture, I feel that my subconscious and unconscious mind whirl around and ultimately result in designing a finished piece. This spontaneous movement helps me “subconscious introduced into the real, physical world”. It’s as if my inner-self gives birth to an abstract form that has already existed within myself.
Sculpting is not only making well-balanced, harmonious, beautiful forms, but also, expressing various experiences that people can have in the world. They could be naïve, childhood memories, impressions of the natural beauty, gladness of sadness. Unfortunately most of us in contemporary society are tired and overly-stressed from the continuing tensions of daily life. We rarely pause, because we are running after rapidly changing circumstances. We live without our own values and subjectivity; in midst of a society whose values continually change.
Despite this, interact emotionally with their circumstances, and are unconsciously impressed by the beauty of humanity and nature. Some of their own private memories have been submerged into a time of lapse or a deep place within the self. People may believe they have lost these memories forever, but believe these experiences are stored into a person’s deep “chaotic” subconscious and unconscious. I believe that my sculptures are “re-illuminations” of the unconscious. They recall my belief in the lost subconscious and unconscious.
