BIO

Jung Jisook was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1987. She earns a MFA/BFA in Ceramics from Kookmin University in Korea.

In the artist’s own words “I am an observer curious about the truths of the world. To understand the cosmological principles, everything in the inner world and outer world can be the target of observation.”

“I am a living organism and an artist with the instinct for survival. As an artist, I wanted to express this interesting truth in my works. Now, it is the time to express the aliveness. First, I focused on myself as a living organism. I expressed the living emotions and senses I perceived with my body and head into visual forms. Secondly, I expressed the living organisms and the world. Here, the common features of living organisms including movement, breathing, growth, reproduction, breeding, absorption, and emission are expressed in the keyword of “Vitality”. Since the self, living organisms, and the world share numbers of similar features along with vague boundary, they are mixed together in the works. This mixture is named the “Living Mass”.”.

“To express the living mass visually, I mainly used the “Clay” with higher moldability and plasticity. In my works, I simplified the humans or animals, created mass-like forms with clays, and covered the surface with clay pellets, small and miscellaneous easily accessible matters, and materials with interesting textures in an irregular way. I also expressed the mass mainly with primary colors as well as curves with smooth contours so that the mass would seem like a slow living organisms. 

Recently, I am also using matters that are used in people’s daily lives or matters that are thrown away. The themes associated with disappearance and death faintly reminds of the memories of “Aliveness” in contrast to disappearance and death. 

In expression of the living mass in drawing, I used metaphorical images which seem rather simple and wicked for more intuitive feelings. The drawings are characterized by the gathering of numerous grains and wavy lines. These features are inspired by the microscopic world observed by a microscope. When you observe a static object with a microscope, tiny substances are actively moving inside the object. This is similar to observing the earth from the space.”