2026 Representative Korean Sculptor Exhibition 《Cho Sook-jin: A Passing Place》

About the Exhibition

Sookjin Jo: A Place That Passes is the second exhibition in the Nam-Seoul Museum of Art's 'Korean Master Sculptors' series, surveying the working attitude and reflections on existence of Sookjin Jo, who has worked in New York for the past 40-plus years across painting, sculpture, installation, photography, performance, public projects, and architecture. Born in 1960 in Gwangju, Jeollanam-do, the artist began experimenting with atypical materials such as plywood, linoleum flooring, and cardboard in the early 1980s, and has continued to achieve international recognition since moving to New York in 1988. The exhibition title, 'A Place That Passes,' encapsulates the ontological insight running through Sookjin Jo's body of work. The artist embraces discarded wood and objects not as mere materials but as beings that have passed through time longer than humans, carrying their own memories, discovering through art the possibility of life inherent within them. The exhibition opens with the prologue 'Witness,' and moves through Part 1 'Being and Non-Being,' Part 2 'Between Spaces,' and Part 3 'The Principle of All Things,' concluding with the epilogue 'A World That Forms One,' presenting some 100 works including major pieces, new work, and previously unreleased drawings and archival material.