1. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background as an artist.
I was born in 1957 and graduated from the Department of Sculpture at Hongik University in Seoul. Although my official artistic career began relatively late, I have long devoted myself to a single unwavering pursuit: to dedicate my entire life to art.
After years of preparation and experimentation, I began developing my own distinctive visual language using transparent acrylic panels as my primary surface. Through this process, I have continued to explore and establish what I call “Sculptural Painting” — a hybrid practice that dissolves the boundaries between painting and sculpture.
Currently based in Seoul, South Korea, I spend most of my time working in my studio in Pocheon, where I remain fully immersed in the creative process.
L, M) A Figure of the Soul Series I - II, 2025, 122x122 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
R)The Eyes of the Soul, 2023, 97x97x5 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
2. What themes or messages do you seek to convey through your work?
The cyclical nature of existence — fullness and emptiness, beginnings and endings, gathering and dispersal, extinction and creation — lies at the center of my work and remains my lifelong artistic inquiry.
My practice combines both two-dimensional and three-dimensional approaches. I carve, engrave, scratch, break, imprint, fill, and paint, employing every possible expressive technique that painting and sculpture can offer. Using specially customized drills and carving tools on acrylic panels as though they were brushes, I attempt to dismantle conventional artistic boundaries and create a new visual territory through Sculptural Painting.
At a deeper conceptual level, I approach my work through the belief that the afterlife and the infinite universe are intrinsically connected. I seek to express the relationship between life and death through unrestricted and intuitive forms, while moving beyond conventional materials and established artistic methods.
3. What is your creative process when developing a new work?
I have trained myself to constantly ask the question, “Why?” Curiosity and doubt are essential starting points in my practice.
For me, artistic creation begins with an inner freedom that is not confined by any fixed structure or system. Whenever an idea emerges, I immediately record it. At the same time, I carefully prepare the optimal conditions and environment for future works, almost like assembling the pieces of a vast puzzle long before the final image appears.
Emotional Loneliness, 2025, 204x122x5 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
4. What inspires your work, and how does your surrounding environment influence your creative process?
I believe life itself is like a giant puzzle. Just as countless moments accumulate to form a lifetime, my worldview and years of contemplation naturally become the foundation of my work.
Even the smallest movements and subtle transformations occurring within nature and the universe become profound sources of inspiration for me. Rather than searching for something extraordinary, I find that the act of living itself — breathing, observing, and experiencing each passing moment — provides the strongest foundation for my creative practice.
5. What challenges have you faced as an artist, and how did you overcome them?
Financial hardship was undoubtedly the greatest challenge.
As the head of a household and a member of society, continuing to pursue art while maintaining dignity and self-respect was an immense burden. Yet what sustained me was an unshakable belief that I could ultimately prove myself through the thing I loved and understood most deeply: art.
During difficult periods, I survived through quiet endurance. I often told myself, “As long as you continue breathing, this too shall pass.”
Relationship, 2024, 152.5x101x5 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
6. Do you believe your identity as an Asian artist influences your work?
I believe the country and culture in which one is born profoundly shape one’s inner identity and consciousness.
As an Asian artist, I have continuously absorbed, questioned, negotiated, and transformed the cultural sensibilities I inherited through lived experience. At times I have deeply embraced them, while at other times I have intentionally tried to move beyond them.
However, I also believe that the essential nature of art transcends cultural boundaries. While rooted in my Asian identity, I aspire to communicate through a visual language that resonates universally beyond East and West, and to establish my own presence within the global contemporary art world.
My Inner Self, 2025, 245x122x5 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
7. Can you describe your daily routine as an artist? Are there any habits that are especially important to your practice?
There was a time when I lived completely outside the rhythms of ordinary life, maintaining an unhealthy schedule where day and night were reversed. However, after getting married and raising children, I realized that I had been justifying an imbalanced lifestyle in the name of being an artist.
I made a determined effort to change. I quit excessive drinking and smoking, and for the past thirteen years I have remained completely sober. Today, waking around 5 a.m. and beginning the day with a clear and focused mind has become one of my greatest sources of pride.
I constantly take notes, organize thoughts, and observe daily life with discipline. Because I see life as a puzzle, I believe that maintaining the best possible physical and mental condition is essential for creating meaningful work.
I firmly believe that good habits ultimately determine an artist’s endurance and direction. Even now, my mind remains alert and my body continually in motion.
The Sound of One’s Heart, 2025, 122x82x5 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
8. Are there any current projects or upcoming exhibitions you would like to share?
At present, I am deeply engaged in an ongoing dialogue with acrylic — a material that possesses both immense strength and complexity. At times I struggle against it, and at other times I harmonize with it. This intense relationship between material and artist will likely continue for some time.
I intend to actively participate in exhibitions both in Korea and internationally whenever opportunities arise, always seeking new ways to communicate with audiences through my work.
Ultimately, I believe that whatever future awaits me will be shaped by the sincerity of my actions and daily discipline today. With that belief, I continue to prepare each day with excitement and dedication toward what lies ahead.
A Figure of the Soul, 2025, 101x101 cm, Sculpting on Acrylic Panel, Special Paint
Gong's New York Solo Exhibition
Density of Emptiness, Light of Presence (April, 2026 Tenri Cultural Institute NY) Read More
'Through the Eye, Not with It' Reviewed by Thalia Vrachopoulos Ph.D Read More
Chief Editor Paris Koh