Yoo Choong-mok's "Formation — Intersection 19" (2023) / Courtesy of the artist

Yoo Choong-mok presents his reinterpretation of traditional Korean aesthetics through a contemporary lens in his solo exhibition at Gallery 526 in southern Seoul. His works bridge past and present and the East and the West, offering a fresh perspective on Korean heritage and identity.

A defining feature of Yoo's work is his use of glass beads to represent water drops. The transparent and reflective nature of water drop beads serves as a metaphor for the artist's journey. Just as countless moisture particles unite to form a drop of water, Yoo's life experiences accumulate to shape his artistic identity.

His "Formation" series is also a way of paying homage to the late Kim Tschang-yeul, renowned for his hyperrealistic depictions of water droplets. While Kim painted his water drops on canvas, Yoo places transparent glass beads on the surface, creating a unique, 3D texture and shifting the viewer's perspective on the motif.

Yoo's medium of choice, burlap canvas, is selected for its warm, natural tone that closely resembles East Asian skin tones. This textured surface becomes the foundation for colors inspired by traditional Korean elements such as "dancheong" (decorative painting), "obangsaek" (Korean palette of five colors) and "hanbok" (traditional Korean clothing). His compositions, structured with a sense of stability and balance, take inspiration from the vertical and horizontal arrangements found in traditional Korean architecture and "changho" (wooden lattice frames).

Curator Lee Ji-bin emphasized the impact of Yoo's artistic approach, which brings attention to the essence of "Koreanness."

"Yoo Choong-mok's work reconstructs the beauty of Korean tradition through a modern sculptural language. The water drop motif, in particular, offers a window through which audiences can intuitively understand Korean identity and heritage," Lee said.

Yoo's artistic journey is influenced by his decade-long experience living in the United States and the United Kingdom. These years abroad gave him a renewed appreciation for his Korean heritage, fueling his fusion of traditional Korean influences with modern techniques.

With a background in glass art, Yoo was recognized as an emerging glass artist by the Corning Museum of Glass in the U.S. and received a scholarship to attend the Pilchuck Glass School. In the 2000s, he worked as a glass designer at Carlson Glassworks in New York before pursuing a master's degree in glass art at the University of Sunderland.

The exhibit runs through Feb. 10 at the gallery in Seorae Village, a French neighborhood in southern Seoul. Yoo has plans to showcase his works abroad, including Art Tainan in Taiwan in March, Affordable Art Fair in Hong Kong in May and Gallery AP Space in New York from May to June.