Sook Jin Jo 조 숙진

BiographyFor the past 40 years, multidisciplinary artist Sook Jin Jo has produced drawings, wooden assemblages, installations, performances, photographs, videos, public works and architecture.

Jo has exhibited internationally and has been the subject of forty solo exhibitions, including “WITNESS III”, Franconia Sculpture Park, Shafer, Minnesota (2023); “ Art Jeoji 2021”, Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; “SeMA GOLD 2014: Nobody”, Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; “Walter Gropius Master Artist Series”, Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia (2011); A project collaboration with Immigrants from Latin America, Tenement Museum, New York, NY (2009); “A Mid-Career Survey of the Work of Sook Jin Jo” at the
Arko Art Center, Seoul (2007); and over one-hundred group exhibitions, including the “Lodz Biennale”, Lodz, Poland; the “Gwangju Biennale,” Korea; the Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Changwon, Korea.

Sook Jin Jo is a recipient of many distinguished awards, fellowships, grants and commissions, including a commission from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, California; a “Master Artist in Residence” at the Atlantic Center for the Arts in New Smyrna Beach, Florida; the iaab Fellowship (Christoph Merian Stifung Foundation) in Basel, Switzerland; the Hachonghyun Foundation Artist Award in Seoul, Korea; a Korea Arts Foundation of America (KAFA) Award in Santa Monica, CA; a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in New York, NY.

Jo’s works can be seen in numerous public collections, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea; the Seoul Museum of Art, Korea; the LA Metro Detention Center, California; the Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea; the Erie Museum of Art, Pennsylvania; Art House Chapel I, Korean Christian Academy, Tipitapa, Nicaragua; Art House Chapel II, Mission Center, San Andrés Itzapa, Guatemala; Art House Chapel III, Quezaltepeque, El Salvador; Art House Chapel IV, Horconcitos, Honduras; and the Margulies Collection at the Warehouse, Miami Florida.

Artist StatementI have produced drawings, collages, photographs, sculptural assemblages, performances, installations and public works that explore theme of destruction and rebirth, the forgotten and renewal, material and spiritual, the interconnectedness of all things. 

My interest in humble, found materials began in the early 1980’s, originally out of necessity due to financial hardship. Since then I have been collecting discarded wood from the streets of New York, such as old doors, shutters, and plywood panels. They hold a great attraction for me because of their humble and collective history and humanity. I have explored painterly, sculptural and possibilities to create a specific meditative/contemplative quality. I have also made my compositions large in dimension to challenge and overcome perceptions of gender and regionalism. Fundamentally environmental and deeply personal, I also have tried to cast awareness on the subtle shift in materials we value by questioning the virtue of evolving industrial mediums and the conventional contemporary esthetics that influence our perception of the world around us.

My work has been extended to collaborative installations and public arts. As urban settings become increasingly multi-cultural and complex. I believe public art can help create a more open society; embracing the community, its culture and the characteristics of the site environment. In most cases, I chose neglected and forgotten places, sometimes exploring different mediums, like performance, photography or moving images. Whatever the medium, I try to evoke a soulful, meditative and contemplative experience; work that can move and touch the viewer’s heart."

Website Sook Jin Jo Studio
Digital Archive of Asian/Asian American Contemporary Art History > Sook Jin Jo
Sook Jin Jo: Sacred Space, Reclaimed Material, Whitehot Magazine, December 2024