Catalog: Artists (107)

15 x 15 inches, 38 x 38 cm. Lee Heyung Bok has been featured on the covers of Korean art publications Ceramic Art Monthly and Craft & Art Review.

Woo Jong Taek (born 1973) paints with ink and watercolor on both sides of the paper, combining the ancient techniques of Goryeo Dynasty Buddhist painting with modern techniques to create compositions that are deeply contemplative meditations on our modern times, casting the 21st Century everyman as Bodhisattva, offering us a thoughtful way to see our world. Woo is in touch with Korea's ancient history while he is also informed by the modern minjung 'people's movement' in art. His paintings are a rare and paradoxical combination of bold brushwork and sensitive rendering, and characters that seem timid, but are confident in their compassion. They reward repeated viewing with a variety of emotions, ‘hope’ being chief among them. 51 x 27 inches, 130 x 69 cm.

Oil Painting by Jeon Joon Yeop. 64 x 38 inches, 162 x 97 cm. Jeon Joon Yeop (born 1953) is a well-known artist in South Korea, with numerous art reviews. He was the top-selling artist in last year’s Korea International Art Fair, Korea’s biggest art fair. Instead of finding comfort in his successes, Jeon accepts popularity as a challenge to further explore how to speak the ancient language of Korean landscape painting with a modern vocabulary of techniques, such as pouring, scratching, spreading, soaking, smudging, blowing, and densely recoating oil paint onto the canvas. Another seemingly modern technique that Jeon employs, the presentation of multiple viewpoints in a single painting, is actually an ancient technique in East Asian painting. Jeon even adds the viewpoint of the person in the painting, creating an attachment for the viewer of the painting so that the landscape is not objective and detached, thus keeping, and sharing, the Korean traditional subjective and harmonious view of nature.

Shin Eun Sook Granite Sculpture, Cosmos. Shin Eun Sook, Chairwoman of the Korean Sculpture Association, is famous for her monumental sculptures, some as tall as 13 meters (over 40 feet), that can be seen throughout Asia in public parks, university campuses, museums, and corporate headquarters. Her small-scale and affordable works like this one are rare. The third photo here is of the artist standing next to her bronze and granite work at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The remaining photos are a few examples of her famous public works. 14h x 11.5w inches, 35.5 x 29 cm.

Kim Young Mi Unglazed Wood-Fired Stoneware. Kim Young Mi subjects these pieces to eight wood-firings, until the ash from the firing has performed all of its organic magic on the surfaces of these living, breathing works of art, giving incomparable texture and color to her nature-loving forms. Kim Young Mi renews the pristine artistic intention of humanity. She says, "My ceramic works are a form of meditation - my humble attempts to live in grace like an open vessel, empty and yet full, of giving and receiving." Kim Young Mi's ceramics, with her inner thoughts woven into the clay, are the end results of her meditation. They quietly stir the human heart. They transform ordinary clay into the extraordinary. This piece was recently displayed in the exhibition, Korean Contemporary Ceramics at the Korea Society. This was an historic exhibition, as it was the first group exhibition of Korean contemporary ceramics in New York. 20w x 11h inches, 51w x 28h cm.

Korean Contemporary Buncheong Ceramic Art by Kim See Man. Buncheong is a unique and centuries-old style of ceramics characterized by a white slip surface that is usually decorated in a spontaneous and expressive manner. This has been imitated in Japan's mishima ware. Kim See Man's work has been exhibited at a long list of major museums, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Yale University Art Gallery, Freer/Sackler Gallery of Art, Indianapolis Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Harvard University Art Museum, Detroit Institute of Arts, Saint Louis Museum of Art, Newark Museum, American Craft Museum, Portland Art Museum, Society for Contemporary Crafts, Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Vancouver Art Museum, Royal Ontario Museum, and many others. Artist signed wood box is included. 10.75 x 8 x 7.5 inches, 27 x 20 x 19 cm.

Won Ju Seo's exhibition is featured in the December 3, 2015 New York Times, and she is featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Fiber Art Now, and in the recently-published McGraw-Hill fine arts textbook, Art Talk. The work offered here is Looking Through My Window by Won Ju Seo. 17 x 13 inches, 43 x 33 cm. Hand made with Korean silk, organza, and ramie. The work of Korean textile artist, Won Ju Seo, is in major museums and prominent collections. She is renowned for her modern approach to the bojagi, the traditional Korean wrapping cloth that has been the subject of many museum exhibitions lately. The superiority of her breath-taking technique is matched by the artistry of her designs and the creative beauty of her palette. The dazzling juxtaposed geometrics are inspired by and pay tribute to the anonymous women who created bojagi for hundreds of years, while the gorgeous colors of Won Ju Seo's palette are unique to her modern creations.

Lee Seung O's innovative paper assemblage, 36 x 18.5 inches, 91 x 47 cm. Lee's work is in the permanent collection of many major museums, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, and he has an excellent auction record, with not a single work going unsold in the many major auctions that have listed his work over the last several years, including Christie's. It is said of Lee Seung O that he is an old spirit with a young mind. While so many young Korean artists are looking to the West for guidance, Lee has found inspiration in the soulful symbolism of traditional Korean folk art. His work is a most inventive and unrestrained interpretation of this tradition, true to the creative spirit of Korean folk art. He has created an entirely new technique of stacking colored paper and wetting the stacks so that they will be stuck together when they dry, then cutting the stacks into strips, and then assembling 'painting-like' compositions that use the edge of the stacks of paper, creating exciting works of great textural density. His work uses an everyday material to make us look at objects (and the world) from a different viewpoint and in an entirely new way, reminding us that innovation and beauty shouldn’t be forced or contrived and needn’t be sought in unknown regions, but can be rooted in tradition and found naturally.

Won Ju Seo's work is featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Fiber Art Now, and in the recently-published McGraw-Hill fine arts textbook, Art Talk. The work offered here is From Inside to Outside by Won Ju Seo. Hand made of Korean silk, organza, and silk thread. Frame: 20.5 x 20.5 inches, 52 x 52 cm; Textile: 11.5 x 11.5 inches, 29 x 29 cm. The work of Korean textile artist, Won Ju Seo, is in major museums and prominent collections. She is renowned for her modern approach to the bojagi, the traditional Korean wrapping cloth that has been the subject of many museum exhibitions lately. The superiority of her breath-taking technique is matched by the artistry of her designs and the creative beauty of her palette. The dazzling juxtaposed geometrics are inspired by and pay tribute to the anonymous women who created bojagi for hundreds of years, while the gorgeous colors of Won Ju Seo's palette are unique to her modern creations.

Lee Seung O's innovative paper assemblage, 36 x 26 inches, 91 x 66 cm. Lee's work is in the permanent collection of many major museums, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, and he has an excellent auction record, with not a single work going unsold in the many major auctions that have listed his work over the last several years, including Christie's. It is said of Lee Seung O that he is an old spirit with a young mind. While so many young Korean artists are looking to the West for guidance, Lee has found inspiration in the soulful symbolism of traditional Korean folk art. His work is a most inventive and unrestrained interpretation of this tradition, true to the creative spirit of Korean folk art. He has created an entirely new technique of stacking colored paper and wetting the stacks so that they will be stuck together when they dry, then cutting the stacks into strips, and then assembling 'painting-like' compositions that use the edge of the stacks of paper, creating exciting works of great textural density. His work uses an everyday material to make us look at objects (and the world) from a different viewpoint and in an entirely new way, reminding us that innovation and beauty shouldn’t be forced or contrived and needn’t be sought in unknown regions, but can be rooted in tradition and found naturally.

Shin Eun Sook Bronze Sculpture with Granite Base. The bronze characters form the written word 'good fortune', in Sino-Korean. Shin Eun Sook, Chairwoman of the Korean Sculpture Association, is famous for her monumental sculptures, some as tall as 13 meters (over 40 feet), that can be seen throughout Asia in public parks, university campuses, museums, and corporate headquarters. Her small-scale and affordable works like this one are rare. The third photo here is of the artist standing next to her bronze and granite work at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. The remaining photos are a few examples of her famous public works. 11.5h x 8w inches, 29 x 20 cm.

Won Ju Seo's work is featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Fiber Art Now, and in the recently-published McGraw-Hill fine arts textbook, Art Talk. The work offered here is Colors in My Surroundings 13 by Won Ju Seo. Hand made of Korean silk and silk thread. Frame: 17 x 14 inches, 43 x 35.5 cm; Textile: 10.5 x 8.5 inches, 27 x 21.5 cm. The work of Korean textile artist, Won Ju Seo, is in major museums and prominent collections. She is renowned for her modern approach to the bojagi, the traditional Korean wrapping cloth that has been the subject of many museum exhibitions lately. The superiority of her breath-taking technique is matched by the artistry of her designs and the creative beauty of her palette. The dazzling juxtaposed geometrics are inspired by and pay tribute to the anonymous women who created bojagi for hundreds of years, while the gorgeous colors of Won Ju Seo's palette are unique to her modern creations.

Woo Jong Taek (born 1973) paints with ink and watercolors on both sides of the paper, combining the ancient techniques of Goryeo Dynasty Buddhist painting with modern techniques to create compositions that are deeply contemplative meditations on our modern times, casting the 21st Century everyman as Bodhisattva, offering us a thoughtful way to see our world. Woo is in touch with Korea's ancient history while he is also informed by the modern minjung 'people's movement' in art. His paintings are a rare and paradoxical combination of bold brushwork and sensitive rendering, and characters that seem timid, but are confident in their compassion. They reward repeated viewing with a variety of emotions, ‘hope’ being chief among them. Frame: 48.5 x 23.5 inches, 123.5 x 59.5 cm; Painting: 41 x 15 inches, 104 x 38 cm.

Incised and Inlaid Stoneware Vessel by Cho Chung Hyun (born 1940), a retired professor and Dean of Fine Arts at Ehwa Womans University. This piece was recently featured in an exhibition at the Korea Society. Cho Chung Hyun's work is inspired by Korea’s onggi pots. This piece tells a 3,000 year-long story of Korean ceramics, from red-bodied Neolithic pottery, the triangle patterns of Silla ware, the inlaid work of Goryeo ceramics, the form of onggi pots from the Joseon Dynasty, right up to today with a modern sensibility and contemporary rendering. Cho Chung Hyun’s works are in the permanent collections of the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena, the National Museum of Scotland, and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, among other museums. She has curated numerous exhibitions of contemporary ceramics, including the first exhibition of Korean contemporary ceramics to travel to major museums around the world, From the Fire: A Survey of Contemporary Korean Ceramics. Cho Chung Hyun is a leading figure in the world of contemporary ceramics, as an artist, educator, curator, and author. 15h x 9w inches, 38 x 23 cm.

Kim Young Mi, Wood-Fired Unglazed Porcelain One. Kim Young Mi subjects these pieces to eight wood-firings, until the ash from the firing has performed all of its organic magic on the surfaces of these living, breathing works of art, giving incomparable texture and color to her nature-loving forms. Kim Young Mi renews the pristine artistic intention of humanity. She says, "My ceramic works are a form of meditation - my humble attempts to live in grace like an open vessel, empty and yet full, of giving and receiving." Kim Young Mi's ceramics, with her inner thoughts woven into the clay, are the end results of her meditation. They quietly stir the human heart. They transform ordinary clay into the extraordinary. 18w x 14.5h x 16d inches, 46w x 37h x 40.5d cm.

Oil Painting by Jeon Joon Yeop. 36 x 25.5 inches, 91 x 65 cm. Jeon Joon Yeop (born 1953) is a well-known artist in South Korea, with numerous art reviews. He was the top-selling artist in last year’s Korea International Art Fair, Korea’s biggest art fair. Instead of finding comfort in his successes, Jeon accepts popularity as a challenge to further explore how to speak the ancient language of Korean landscape painting with a modern vocabulary of techniques, such as pouring, scratching, spreading, soaking, smudging, blowing, and densely recoating oil paint onto the canvas. Another seemingly modern technique that Jeon employs, the presentation of multiple viewpoints in a single painting, is actually an ancient technique in East Asian painting. Jeon even adds the viewpoint of the person in the painting, creating an attachment for the viewer of the painting so that the landscape is not objective and detached, thus keeping, and sharing, the Korean traditional subjective and harmonious view of nature.

Lee Seung O's innovative paper assemblage, 32 x 24 inches, 81 x 61 cm. Lee's work is in the permanent collection of many major museums, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Seoul, and he has an excellent auction record, with not a single work going unsold in the many major auctions that have listed his work over the last several years, including Christie's. It is said of Lee Seung O that he is an old spirit with a young mind. While so many young Korean artists are looking to the West for guidance, Lee has found inspiration in the soulful symbolism of traditional Korean folk art. His work is a most inventive and unrestrained interpretation of this tradition, true to the creative spirit of Korean folk art. He has created an entirely new technique of stacking colored paper and wetting the stacks so that they will be stuck together when they dry, then cutting the stacks into strips, and then assembling 'painting-like' compositions that use the edge of the stacks of paper, creating exciting works of great textural density. His work uses an everyday material to make us look at objects (and the world) from a different viewpoint and in an entirely new way, reminding us that innovation and beauty shouldn’t be forced or contrived and needn’t be sought in unknown regions, but can be rooted in tradition and found naturally.

Won Ju Seo's work is featured in the Spring 2013 issue of Fiber Art Now, and in the recently-published McGraw-Hill fine arts textbook, Art Talk. The work offered here is Joy 2 by Won Ju Seo. 13 x 13 inches, 33 x 33 cm. Hand made with Korean silk. The work of Korean textile artist, Won Ju Seo, is in major museums and prominent collections. She is renowned for her modern approach to the bojagi, the traditional Korean wrapping cloth that has been the subject of many museum exhibitions lately. The superiority of her breath-taking technique is matched by the artistry of her designs and the creative beauty of her palette. The dazzling juxtaposed geometrics are inspired by and pay tribute to the anonymous women who created bojagi for hundreds of years, while the gorgeous colors of Won Ju Seo's palette are unique to her modern creations.