Jheon Soocheon: Space of Contemplation
Jheon Soocheon: Space of Contemplation
The first solo exhibition in the UK of the internationally acclaimed artist Jheon Soocheon (1947-2018).
The Korean Cultural Centre UK presented the first solo exhibition in the UK of the internationally acclaimed artist Jheon Soocheon (1947-2018), renowned for his spectacular large-scale installations. Space of Contemplation provided a deep insight into Jheon’s experimental practice through new works that explored human emotions and desires in a social and historical context. The exhibition was programmed as part of the Korea/UK Season 2017–18.
Jheon’s practice since the late 1970s had spanned a wide range of media including painting, video, performance and installation. The artist built an international reputation for his installations of clay figures and neon tubes in the 1990s and his experimental line drawings in nature in the following decade. He was a central figure of Korean contemporary art after winning the ‘Menzion d’onore’ for his installation Tou: Mother-Land for Korea’s inaugural pavilion at the 46th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia (1995), and subsequently he was chosen as the ‘Artist of the Year’ by the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea in 1997.
The artist’s work had often raised questions about the relationship between human existence and modern civilisation and the interaction of people and the environment. His critically-acclaimed project The Moving Drawing of Jheon Soocheon: The line that crosses America (2005) saw a train wrapped in white fabric travel 5,500km from New York to Los Angeles, becoming a metaphor for Jheon’s brush as it performed immense drawings through the American landscape. The works shown at the KCCUK demonstrated how the artist turned his focus to combining constructed and deconstructed materials, while continuing to explore these overarching ideas.
About Jheon Soocheon
Jheon Soocheon was born in Seoul in 1947, studied at Wako University, Tokyo in 1981 for a BA and MA in Painting, and graduated from the Pratt Institute, New York in 1986 with an MFA in Painting. He worked as a professor for the Academy of Art, at the Korea National University of Arts between 1997 and 2011.
He was a central figure of Korean contemporary art since he was awarded the ‘Menzion d’onore’ at the 46th International Art Exhibition - la Biennale di Venezia (1995). He had exhibited his work internationally including Reading Beyond Barcodes, White Box Gallery, New York (2008); The Moving Drawing of Jheon Soocheon: The Line That Crosses America From New York to Los Angeles, USA (2005); Reality in Time, Espace Landowski, Paris (2000), and Meditation Space, the 23rd Sao Paulo Biennale (1996), alongside numerous solo and group exhibitions in Korea. His works are in the permanent collections of major museums and public spaces including the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea; Tokyo The National Museum of Modern Art, Japan; Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Korea, and Seoul City Hall, Korea, among many others.
