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Collection
Formation Series
Choongmok Yoo
Work Description
- Media Glass, Gold leaf, Acrylic on canvas
- Location THE GRAND LOTTE SEOUL
The ink absorbed into the jute canvas spreads like traces of time, while the gold vertical line symbolizes Jungdo (中道), the balanced and impartial path. It creates a quiet center amid the expanding ink, balancing emotion and order, memory and restraint.
The glass droplets connect past and present. Like moisture gathering into one form, they symbolize experiences and time accumulating to shape the self. Clear and transparent, the glass reflects the past like a lens, revealing memory as it condenses once again.
This work views the past through the sensibility of the present. Ink, gold line, and glass droplets quietly reveal Korean aesthetic consciousness and the traces of time.
The glass droplets connect past and present. Like moisture gathering into one form, they symbolize experiences and time accumulating to shape the self. Clear and transparent, the glass reflects the past like a lens, revealing memory as it condenses once again.
This work views the past through the sensibility of the present. Ink, gold line, and glass droplets quietly reveal Korean aesthetic consciousness and the traces of time.
About the Artist
Choongmok Yoo is an artist who explores time, memory, and existence through the materiality of glass. He was recognized early for his international potential.
The artist combines glass droplets with rough jute canvas, expressing the dual nature of glass—transparent yet solid, strong yet fragile. To him, water droplets are not merely a representation of nature. They are a symbol of beginning and end, formation and circulation, and the traces of memory that remain between presence and disappearance. As light changes and the viewer moves, the shadows of the droplets also shift, allowing the work to be experienced as a changing phenomenon rather than a fixed image.
Based on Korean traditional colors, patterns, architecture, and sentiment, Choongmok Yoo reinterprets the beauty of Korean tradition in a modern way. The vertical and horizontal structures in his work are inspired by traditional Korean windows, while the colors recall obangsaek, dancheong, and hanbok. In his recent works, restrained colors, ink spreading into jute, empty space, and the transparency of glass create a more condensed sensibility. Through these elements, his droplets become a lens that connects the past and the present, inviting viewers to reflect on time, memory, and Korean identity.
The artist combines glass droplets with rough jute canvas, expressing the dual nature of glass—transparent yet solid, strong yet fragile. To him, water droplets are not merely a representation of nature. They are a symbol of beginning and end, formation and circulation, and the traces of memory that remain between presence and disappearance. As light changes and the viewer moves, the shadows of the droplets also shift, allowing the work to be experienced as a changing phenomenon rather than a fixed image.
Based on Korean traditional colors, patterns, architecture, and sentiment, Choongmok Yoo reinterprets the beauty of Korean tradition in a modern way. The vertical and horizontal structures in his work are inspired by traditional Korean windows, while the colors recall obangsaek, dancheong, and hanbok. In his recent works, restrained colors, ink spreading into jute, empty space, and the transparency of glass create a more condensed sensibility. Through these elements, his droplets become a lens that connects the past and the present, inviting viewers to reflect on time, memory, and Korean identity.
Choongmok Yoo (b. 1977, Republic of Korea)
MA in Glass, University of Sunderland(UK)
