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- Jian Yoo Artist, Founder
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Jian Yoo constructs a world in which the boundaries of contradictions, such as tradition-contemporary, natural-artificial, human-machine, and ideal-reality, are broken down to coexist.
And the mother-of-pearl serves as the medium that symbolizes this harmony, while simultaneously bringing out visual texture as a material that allows the invisible and untouchable non-materialistic light to be seen and felt.
“In Between”
Her world of art is based on the diverse perspectives that she, herself, discovered and experienced being in between different environments and cultures. It is like a journey of guiding opposing relationships to complementary ones to form as one.
Her works reveal a kind of brilliance that can only be realized when thousands and thousands of small glimmers of light come together to form a whole. With the material being brought from nature, the artist focuses on respecting its unique qualities, while also highlighting them. As the small pieces gather, one by one, what they complete within the art is temporality and connectivity. The flow of time embraced by the natural material, the handiness of master craftsmen honed by repetition, the depth of time they spent walking down this one path for many years, and the passage of searching for the most optimal path by communicating through repeated conflicts and reconciliations with countless adding and removing - these aspects are condensed into multi-layers of time to create high density within the art.
“When you just see the strips just 1~2mm thin, it’s hard to fathom, but when the small pieces and lines gather, one by one, they form ocean waves and radiant flowers in bloom and reveal a brilliant shine that’s commonly talked about. I say that I communicate with the materials, but there are many limitations in dealing with materials especially from nature. Depending on the environment, the way the mother-of-pearl responds is different, so there’s a need for many conversations and sensibility while working on the craft. You can say it’s the process of adjusting and finding the point of contact.” This is also the reason why of the many ways she can handle the material, she prefers thinly cutting the pieces and attaching them one by one wherever the hand goes.
She doesn’t separate between abstraction and conception, craft and art, nor does she get tied down to any specifics or establish boundaries. Rather than using just one form, working with various media, like painting, objects, and art furniture, actually challenges her, creates and shares a connection between the mediums, and becomes the motivation to expand her world of art.
► VIEW JIAN YOO'S ARTWORKS | JIANYOO.COM
Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, New York, US
-Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Interior Design
2024 Park Hyatt Seoul, Presidential Suite Furniture Design and Production
‘Iridescent Hue’ Solo Exhibition, The Korea Society, New York, US
2023 Designing/Producing the VIP Gift for GENESIS 'One of One'
Designing/ Producing the Presidential Set for Sulwhasoo
Designing/ Producing the Trophy for the 1st Seoul Smart City Award
Selected as the Presidential State Gift for South Korea-US Summit
The Moon_White' Acquired by the National Folk Museum of Korea
Jian Yoo Special Invitation Exhibition at Tower Club, Singapore
Participated in Downtown Design Dubai 2023, Dubai, UAE
‘Light in the Silence’ Solo Exhibition, Samseyoung Art Museum
Jian Yoo's Solo Exhibition, Andaz Hotel Seoul Gangnam
‘On the Path of Time’ Invitational Exhibition, Lotte Hotel Seoul
The Grand Art Fair (THE GIAF), The Shilla Hotel
Four Seasons Hotel 'OUL' x Jian Yoo Collaboration
Lotte Art Fair Busan 2023, Signiel Hotel Busan
Dialogue with Artist Jian Yoo at Maison Galeria Time World
‘Najeon, Glimmer & Shine’ Exhibiton, National Folk Museum of Korea
Designing/ Producing Mother-of-Pearl Mirrors for Microsoft Korea
K-Art Show Seoul 2023
2023 Seoul Art Show
'Jian Yoo & Launer London' Collaboration, The Shilla Hotel
'Mid-Winter Surprise', Chriss & Co Gallery
Exhibition at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Busan
2022 'Najeon, Meeting with the Timeless Shine', UNESCO HQ, Paris, France
'Jian Yoo: A Special Presentation', Culture Object Gallery, New York, US
Exhibition at Centre Culturel Coréen à Paris, France
Cartier selected Jian Yoo’s art pieces for their Art Collection
Blancpain 'Art de Vivre' VIP event
PANERAI 'Luminor Due Luna' Launching Event
Exhibition ‘Jian Yoo x Giorgetti’ Art Collaboration
'Sublime Light' Solo Exhibition, Gallery Moi
'Sublime Light' Solo Exhibition, Art K Gallery
2022 Grand Bridge Art Fair, Solo Exhibition
Exhibition at Rolls-Royce Exclusive Lounge
Gift for Christian Dior's Creative director, Maria Grazia Chiuri
Gift for President of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier
'5 Senses of Christmas', Severance Art Space in the Severance Hospital
Premier Art Seoul 2022, The Westin Josun Seoul
'Beyond the Ocean' Solo Exhibition, Gallery We
‘Transcendental Furniture’, Culture Object, New York, US
‘The Extraordinary Ordinary’, The Korean Crafts Museum
‘Simple and Neat’ the National Folk Museum of Korea
‘every NOW & THEN’, Chriss & Co Gallery
‘Beyond Time’, Gallery 526
‘Jian Yoo x Laveree’ Collaboration
London Collect 2022 Digital Art Fair, UK
Art Piece for PANERAI ‘Luminor Due’ Presentation
2021 Rolls-Royce Motor Cars “Inspiring Greatness” Project- PHANTOM The Gallery
‘Infinite Allure’, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Seoul
‘Infinite Allure’, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Busan
‘Engraving Exquisite Light’, The Galleria Luxury Hall, Seoul, Korea
Exhibition at PSR Black Lounge, The Galleria Luxury Hall, Seoul, Korea
Exhibition with Blancpain ‘Art de Vivre’ Presentation
Participated in Downtown Design Dubai 2021, Dubai, UAE
2020 'Moonlight', Helen J. Gallery, LA, USA
'From Many, One', Culture Object Gallery, New York, USA
SOFA Intersect Chicago 2020 Digital Fair
Downtown Design Dubai Digital Fair
Maison & Objet Digital Fair, Paris, France
2019 'One by Jian' Exhibition at Gallery Meme, Seoul, Korea
Maison & Objet Digital Fair, Paris, France
Participated in the Downtown Design Dubai 2019, Duabi, UAE
2018 Participated in the Louvre Museum Art Fair ‘Art Shopping 2018’, Paris, France
Exhibition at Galerie New Image, Paris, France
Exhibition at KCDF Window Gallery 'One by Jian'
2017 Participated in the exhibition 'Luminosita millenarian, Nagion & Ottchil'
-Instituto Culturale Coreano, Rome, Italy
-Museo Diocesano di Albano, Italy
-Korea Cultural Center Budapest, Hungary
2016~ Accepted into the 8th Buddhist Design Competition
Guest Lecture for Craft · Business Design Education at KCDF Namwon region
Patented Earthenware Pottery Designs
Korea Craft & Design Foundation 'Natural, Artificial, and Inspiration'
Participated in Domaine de Boisbuchet Design+Architecture Workshops in France
Patents for Writing Utensil Cases, Tea Sets, and Picture Frame Designs as Design Trademarks/Copyrights
Awarded Silver Prize in the 42nd Seoul Handicraft Competition
Awarded Special Recognition in the 42nd Korean Craft Competition
Patent for the Star Pattern as a Design Trademark/Copyright
Exhibition at Steelcase, New York, US
- Works
BEYOND THE OCEAN
Beyond the Ocean is a work that was visually expressed after the exploration of the material’s physical properties, which were then used as a motif.
The vastness of the ocean, which embraces a long period of time that’s as immeasurable as its depth and size, eliminates boundaries and resets them. And the blue waves above it, created by the winds, vary in size, as they tremble with sensation under the sunlight that changes over time. The small pieces that blanket the surface become the water, the wind, the sun, the moon, and the clouds to create the ocean and cause the waves to surge. Clearly revealed through the continuous repetition of extinction, creation, and change, the traces of time concentrate energy and circulate it to fill with the green of life.
THE MOON
As an extension of the Beyond the Ocean series, THE MOON is a work that transfers the moonlight shining on the sea and the ocean lit by the moon onto a moon jar or a flat surface.
Surging through the waves created by the endless flow and curves as soft and elegant as splashes of water, the numerous pieces repeatedly move, gathering and separating, flowing and breaking, to embrace the light of the shimmering ripples under the sun and the glistening waves of the blue night sea.
INTERSECTION
Intersection is a project that takes apart, freely transforms, expands, and newly reorganizes the form of scenery and customs that were familiar in mother-of-pearl art between the 1950s and 1990s.
The present is the intersection and tunnel that connects the past with the future. Within the flow of modern society, where creation and destruction are repeated, the mother-of-pearl is used as a medium that moves past extinction, through the intersection called the present, and forward into the future. After undergoing several stages of dismantling, modification, and additions, historical time and presence remain in the present and the future with a new life force. Furniture, of which the mother-of-pearl itself is a work of art, and the new image, unfolding the heritage of a specific theme built by extraordinary people using special materials on a platform, present a different world that crosses the boundaries of reality and unreality, existence and nonexistence, fact and fiction, and more.
BLOOM
Based on the work of Joseon Dynasty painter Jang Seung-eop, also known as “Ohwon”, BLOOM moves the center of gravity to abstractly express flowers in full bloom as a cascade of stars, the fluttering of snow, and the raining of flowers.
With no concern in creating a specific form, the work uses bright background colors, such as pink and sky blue, to blur the boundaries with the background and allow the shine of the mother-of-pearl to move rhythmically according to the light. Expressing the art of a prominent painter of an era through contemporary lenses, this new image transcends time between artists 100 years prior and after, allowing them to influence each other and commune, empathize, and communicate over the common theme of art.
OBLIQUE
Inspired by buildings, which can be said to be the symbol of capitalism and the modern world as well as the highest form of three-dimensional art, the Oblique Collection presents the mother-of-pearl as an aspect of the architectural aesthetic.
The Oblique Collection represents our belief that one needs to take a step back from a fixed notion and look at something from all angles to discover the hidden beauty, in the same way as the mother-of-pearl creates iridescent shimmering at different angles.
GOT
The GOT series was discovered in the process of asking what traditional object of Korean culture could deliver the spirit of Korean craftsmen to today’s world and simultaneously be unique, creative, and appealing to the public.
The traditional Korean hat, got, served a dual purpose as an item to cover the face from the sun as well as to reveal one's social status. For the GOT series, instead of the horsehair or long, thin strips of bamboo traditionally used, slender mother-of-pearl strips were inlaid, one by one, to the brim held up by a cone or cylinder. While the traditional got shielded faces from the sun, GOT instead powerfully emits the radiant shine of the mother-of-pearl.