Ung-Ung, 2020
BORN 1974
ARTIST STATEMENT
My work focuses on the relationship between ‘Writing and Drawing’. From a distance, it appears to be a drawn image but a closer look reveals innumerable minute handwriting strewn over. Therefore, my work is comprised of tiny texts but seen as an image as well.
I began to create ‘Text painting’ due to the fascination with blurry brush strokes of Ink wash painting, i.e. smudged contours of Chinese ink on mulberry paper. Such interest towards blurredness has expanded to dismantling the borders between traditional oriental painting and scribble, brush and pencil, and uniqueness and reduplication.
‘Text painting’ is often composed of onomatopoeic or mimetic words. Piles of tiny texts such as ‘Shoo Shoo Shoo-(슈슈슈-)1’, ‘Eng Eng Eng Eng~(앵앵앵앵~)2’, ‘Ung~Ung(엉~엉)3’, ‘Ya~ho(야~호)4’, ‘Woo Soo Soo Soo(우수수수)5’, ‘Joo roo roo rook(주루루룩)6’, and ‘Ung-geum Ung-geum(엉금엉금)7’ together form into an image. ‘Echowords’, a term that refers to ‘imitating language’, represents my work.
- Sound of wind, wave, or flying
- Buzzing
- Crying loudly
- Yahoo
- Rustling down
- Sound of falling rain
- Crawling
BIOGRAPHY
Education
- 1999 B.F.A. Han-Sung Univ., Seoul
Solo Exhibitions
- 2019 Miss Lamella, CR Collective, Seoul
- 2018 Spring breeze, how should I love now?, Incheon Culture Brewery, Incheon
- 2017 From head to toe, P21, Seoul
From head to toe, Park Ryu Sook Gallery, Seoul - 2015 Shaking your hair loose, Perigee Gallery, Seoul
The Lord`s Prayer, The Lost Player, Olivia Park Gallery, Seoul, New York - 2014 Yodeleheeyoo~, Gahoedong60, Seoul
- 2013 Echowords, Doosan Gallery, New York
She, Artspace Hue, Paju - 2010 YOOCHIHAN, Gallery Plant, Seoul
- 2007 Echowords, Mizuma Art Gallery, Tokyo
- 2006 Echowords, Seomi & Tuus Gallery, Seoul
- 2005 Echowords, One and J. Gallery, Seoul
- 2003 Echowords, Moran Gallery, Seoul
- 2000 Echowords, Seo-Nam Art Center, Seoul
- 1999 Hee Hee Hee, Gallery Jo, Seoul
Selected Group Exhibitions
- 2023 New Painting, New Painting Theory, Arting Gallery, Seoul
- 2022 The 9th CKD Arts Award Exhibition, Sejong Museum of Art, Seoul
Welcome to the Fairy Land, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan - 2020 The moment of Gieok(Korean Alphabet ㄱ), Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum, Seoul
- 2019 Mongyuinwang, Ansan Art Center, Ansan
Art369, Yongsan Crafts Museum, Seoul
More than Words, Seongnam Cube Art Museum, Seongnam
Prince Anpyong and Hangeul, Zaha Museum, Seoul
Hanguk-hwa, Mindful Landscape, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon
Sea and Beans, Partyum Art Gallery, Incheon
Playing Texting, Dohing Art, Seoul
The 20th Anniversary Archive Project of Alternative Space Loop, Alternative Space LOOP, Seoul - 2018 Mongyuinwang, Zaha Museum, Seoul
Hyper Narrative, Meta Monaco, Monaco
Bricolage: World with coincidence, Suwon Art Center, Suwon
2017 Meta-scape, Wooyang Museum of Contemporary Art, Kyeongju
A Joy of SPRING: Scenery, Blossom and Delicacy, National Folk Museum of Korea, Seoul
Nangmanchangjeon, Art Museum KRU, Daegu - 2016 Tenacious Hands, Seongbuk Museum of Art, Seoul
Hangeul Calligraphy x Latin Typography, Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum, Seoul
Old & New, DDP Design Museum, Seoul
The Tradition is the Future, Ilju & Seonhwa Gallery, Seoul - 2015 Muhyenguem, Jincheon Bell Museum, Jincheon
Stop and See, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
Giving My Heart to Snoopy, Lotte Department Store, Seoul
Paintings - all the windows to the world, BMOCA, Paju
Writing an Image, Space Cottonseed, Singapore
Dreaming Reality, SETEC (Convention Hall 1), Seoul
Play with Drawing, Ilwoo Space, Seoul - 2014 Choe Chiwon: Pungyu, Seoul Calligraphy Art Museum, Seoul
Bag is Literature, Gallery 0914, Seoul
Tomorrow 2014, DDP Design Museum, Seoul
Nostalgia of a Great Painting, AK Gallery, Suwon
Draw, LIG Art Center, Seoul
Visual Literacy, Space K, Daegu
Close Up, Doosan Gallery, Seoul - 2013 Buk Seoul Museum of Art Inaugural Exhibition Part Ⅱ from SeMA Collection #2 _ NEW SCENES, Buk Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Modern Art and the Idea of the Original, Ewha Womans University Museum, Seoul
1st Annual Collectors’ Contemporary Collaboration – May Dialogues, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong
Spring, Looking Back on a Familiar Thing, Topgoal Art Center, Seoul
Stories around Relationship, Hongik Museum of Art, Seoul
Slow Art, In Square, Paju
Korean Alphabet: The Art of Inspiration and Interaction, SeMA Nam Seoul, Seoul
No Comment, Museum of Art, Seoul National University, Seoul
A Scene from a Memory, ART SPACE BEN, Seoul / ODE TO ART GALLERY, Singapore - 2012 Hongseong i.mage Goam hom.mage, Maison d`Ungno Lee, Hongseong
Hyper text, Nanji Gallery, Seoul
Historical Parade; Images from Elsewhere, SeMA Nam Seoul, Seoul / CASO, Osaka
Jin (to Advance). Tong (to Communicate). Contemporary Korean Art Since the 1990’s, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju
Delving In: Beyond the Boundaries of Physical Properties, interalia Art Company, Seoul
Landscape meets Digital, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon
Beyond Landscape Paintings, Gyeonggi MoMA, Ansan - 2011 Wonderpia (Wonder+Heteropias), Nanji Gallery, Seoul
Henkel InnoART, alternative Space Loop, Seoul - 2010 2010 Korea Tomorrow, SETEC (Convention Hall 3), Seoul
Byul Collection Now, Sinsa Art Tower, Seoul
Hongbelt project-The Grand Date with Artists_Drawing Palm, Art etc, Seoul
In the Name of the Korean Painting, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Pohang
Present from the Past, Korean Cultural Center UK, London
Between, One and J. Gallery, Seoul
One and J. Gallery at Pierre Koenig, Pierre Koenig Case Study House #21, L.A.
Iconotext, Jeju Museum of Art, Jeju
Collection Highlights, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
Grand Weaver, Gana Contemporary, Seoul - 2009 An Intricate Touch, Miki Wick Kim Contemporary Art, Zurich
Beginning of New Era, The Seoul site for the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul - 2008 Modest monuments: Contemporary Art from Korea, King’s Lynn Arts Centre, King’s Lynn, U.K.
Another Landscape, Mori Museum, Tokyo
Korean Young Artists 1-After the Pictorial Turn, Doosan Gallery, Seoul - 2007 Writing Paintings, Painting Words, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Stick and Move, Frey Norris Gallery, San Francisco - 2006 The 5th Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
Oriental Metaphor, alternative Space Loop, Seoul - 2005 The Elegance of Silence, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Looking Both Ways: Three Artists from Korea, Bard College, New York
Korea-Israel contemporary art exchange exhibition-Between human and site, SSamzie Space, Seoul
Happiness, KEPCO Plaza Gallery, Seoul
Against Translation, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Nano in Young Artist, alternative Space Loop, Ssamzie Gallery, Seoul - 2004 Officina Asia, Galleria D’Arte Moderna, Bologna
The Idiots, Project Space Sarubia-Dabang, Seoul
You are my Sunshine: Korea Contemporary Art 1960-2004, Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Pick and Pick 4_Sangsu AN Picks-Hangul Dada, SSamzie Space, Seoul - 2003 Comics in Art, Art in Comics, Ewha Womans University Museum, Seoul
Trick, Dongduk Art Gallery, Seoul
Charity, SSamzie Space, Seoul - 2002 Project 1, Pause, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju
Image, Text, Typo, Busan Municipal Museum of Art, Busan
Babel 2002, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
Living Furniture, Supplement Space Stone & Water, Anyang - 2001 SSamzie Site-specific: Crossing Parallels Between, SSamzie Space, Seoul / Lance Fung Gallery, New York
A world “without” others, Insa Art Space, Seoul
Disperse, Art Space in Art Council Korea, Seoul - 2000 Currents in Korean Contemporary Art, Taipei Fine Arts Museum, Taipei / Hong Kong Arts Center, Hong Kong
Young Korean Artists Exhibition 2000: Towards the New millennium, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon - 1999 The State OF 1990s Korean Contemporary Art, Allen Kim Murphy Gallery, Seoul
Beyond Landscape, Artsonje Center, Kyungju, Seoul - 1998 Kongsan Art Festival, Dong-Ah Galley, Seoul
Projects
- 2018 2018 West Sea Peace Art Project, Incheon Metropolitan City, Incheon Foundation of Art and Culture, and Arts Council Korea
- 2018-2020 The Future Image of Cheongpa, Seoul Metropolitan City
- 2016 Art City Bus, Gwangju Metropolitan City
Residencies
- 2013-2013 DOOSAN Residency NY, New York
- 2011-2012 Nanji Art Studio, Seoul
- 2010-2011 Jangheung Atelier: Gana Art Center, Yangju
- 2001-2002 SSamzie Space, Seoul
Awards
- 2020 The 9th CKD Arts Award, Chong Kun Dang Holdings, Seoul
- 2003 The 22th Suk Nam Arts Prize, Seoul
- 1998 Won Excellency Reward at the 5th Kongsan Art Festival, Seoul
Public Collections
Houston Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Mori Art Museum, Tokyo
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
CJ Group, Seoul
MONTBLANC, Seoul
Abu Dhabi Executive Affairs Authority, Abu Dhabi
Burger Collection, Hong Kong
Ewha Woman’s University Museum, Seoul
National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul
Daegu Art Museum, Daegu
Ssamzie Collection, Seoul
Seo-Nam Foundation, Seoul
Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon
Doosan Yonkang Foundation, Seoul
Seoul Metropolitan Government, Seoul
Artbank, Gwacheon
About ‘Ung-Ung’
Ung-Ung is an onomatopoeic word for weeping loudly in Korean(엉엉). By repeating the letter under the boldly written 엉엉, the painting looks as if the word itself is shedding tears.
About Seungho YOO’s Work
His works can be reviewed and classified in a few typical styles.
The first style comes from the series using characters that helped make his work widely known. His character work represents images and situations by using words and sentences. This series can be divided into two styles: one exploits a play on words like a childish pun by children or comedians and the other appropriates both Eastern and Western masterpieces, especially Oriental landscape painting that is quite familiar to us. His work employing a play on words usually makes use of onomatopoeic and mimetic words and appropriations of foreign words’ pronunciations. This work is visually and semantically lighthearted and nimble due to the mixture of meanings characters retains and the twisted use of their associations with images.
Excerpt from ‘Childishly and Splendidly Frolicking’ by Seung oh SHIN, Director at Perigee Gallery (Foreword from the exhibition ‘Shaking your hair loose’ catalogue, 2015, Perigee Gallery)
Seung Ho YOO's Gallery
MoreTags: UngUng, letter, onomatopoeia, minute, handwriting, ecowords, calligraphy