JUNGWOO HONG
b.1981, Korea
나는 매일매일 기억의 조각들로 가득 찬 거대한 숲 속에서 헤매는 한 마리의 개미와 같다고 느낀다. 수많은 이 기억들은 나를 행복하게 하기도 불행하게 하기도 한다. 하지만 이들은 시간 속에서 쌓여가며 사라지기도 하고 변형되기도 하며 다시 수면 위로 떠오르기도 하여 우리를 회상의 영역으로 이끌어 불분명한 감상으로 적신다.
이러한 무형적인 경험에 대한 감정은 나의 작품에서 낙서의 형식을 빌려 무작정 그리고 무책임하게 화면에 펼쳐진다. 내가 사랑하는 것들, 혹은 미워하는 것들 때로는 그리워하는 것들이 떠올라 객관적 형상에 집중하기보다는 순간의 감각과 감정에 의존하여 선을 긋고 또 긋는다. 마치 아이가 목적 없는 선을 그리고, 또한 선을 뭉쳐 알 수 없는 형상을 그리듯이 말이다. 피카소가 ‘어린아이처럼 그림을 그리기 위해 평생을 바쳤다’라는 것과 같이 과거의 나는 지금의 나보다 어리기에 그리워하는 그때의 나의 감각으로 선을 긋기 위해 노력한다. 이는 내 마음속 깊은 곳에 숨겨진 무의식의 풍경들을 찾아 떠나는 여행의 첫걸음이 된다. 책임 없는 선으로 시작한 나의 움직임은 나조차 미처 알지 못하는, 조용히 잠들어있던 수많은 기억들과 감각들의 조각들의 퍼즐을 맞춰가기 시작한다. 선은 무수한 형상 혹은 문자, 기호 등의 형태로 기억의 단면들을 들춰낸다. 마침내 이 여행은 마주한 의식의 표면 아래 깊이 잠들어 있던 감각과 기억들의 조각들이 모여있는 공간, 즉 나의 언어로 가득한 나만의 나무와 꽃 피어나는 ‘기억의 정원’에 도달한다.
낙서의 형식을 갖춘 나의 작품들에서 시각화되는 선, 그리고 이 선들로 이루어지는 화면은 아무 의미 없는 것들이 아닌 몸이 기억하는 회화적 풍경이자, 의식적인 통제를 넘어선 아주 본능적이고 자동적인 행위의 흔적으로서 기억들의 공간을 형상화한다. 다양한 형상들(기호, 문자, 사람, 동물, 자연물, 별 등)은 무의식이 의식에게 던지는 수수께끼 같은 불특정한 기억의 조각들과 같은데, 이는 롤랑 바르트(프랑스의 문학 비평가이자 기호학자, 1915-1980)의 ‘품크툼(사진을 감상할 때 작가의 의도나 일반적인 해석과는 무관하게, 개인적인 경험과 감정에 의해 강렬하게 와 닿는 부분)’ 개념처럼, 의식적인 분석을 넘어 관람자 각자의 마음에 무의식적으로 꿰뚫고 들어오는 강렬한 지점 혹은 지표라 할 수 있을 것 같다. 즉 낙서로 구성된 나의 작품들은 잊혀진 줄 알았던 기억의 조각들을 다시 불러내고 재구성하며 나의 자아를 찾아가는 과정임과 나의 정체성을 스스로 증명하게 한다.
I often feel like an ant wandering through a vast forest filled with fragments of memory. These countless memories can bring me happiness or sadness. Yet, as time passes, they accumulate, disappear, transform, and resurface, guiding us into the realm of recollection and immersing us in indistinct emotions.
The feelings born of these intangible experiences unfold in my works through the form of doodles—recklessly and irresponsibly spread across the canvas. Things I love, things I despise, or at times things I long for, emerge not as objective forms but as lines drawn again and again, relying on the immediacy of sensation and emotion. It is like a child drawing purposeless lines, clustering them into unknown shapes. As Picasso once said, “It took me a lifetime to learn to paint like a child,” I too strive to draw with the sensibilities of my younger self, who is always younger than the present me. It is a first step in a journey to seek the unconscious landscapes hidden deep within my heart. What begins as an irresponsible line gradually assembles into a puzzle of fragments—memories and sensations once quietly asleep, unknown even to me. The line, in countless forms—symbols, letters, figures—uncovers the cross-sections of memory.
In my works that take the form of doodles, the lines that are visualized, and the surfaces they compose, are not meaningless. They are painterly landscapes remembered by the body, traces of instinctive and automatic acts that surpass conscious control, shaping a space of memories. Various figures (symbols, letters, people, animals, natural objects, stars, etc.) resemble enigmatic fragments of unspecified memories thrown by the unconscious toward consciousness. Much like Roland Barthes’ concept of punctum (that part of a photograph which pierces the viewer personally and intensely, beyond the artist’s intention or general interpretation), these fragments become forceful points or markers that unconsciously pierce into the heart of each viewer, beyond conscious analysis. In this way, my doodle-based works recall and reconfigure fragments of memory thought to be forgotten, becoming both a process of rediscovering myself and a means of affirming my own identity.
Notes: Artist notes from Jungwoo Hong
WORKS
The Memory Garden 2025-1
2025
The Memory Garden 2025-6
2025
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2024-5
2024
The Landscapes Remembered in the Body 2024-10
2024
The Beautiful Days 2023-13
2023
A Matter Irrelevant To You 2025-388
2025
A Matter Irrelevant To You 2025-393
2025
A Matter Irrelevant To You 2025-20
2025
A Matter Irrelevant To You 2025-119
2025
CV
EDUCATION
2016 Ph.D of Arts, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
2009 M.F.A., Hong-ik University, Seoul
2007 B.F.A., Hong-ik University, Seoul
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 The Garden of Memory, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2025 Fragments of mind, Goyo Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2025 Beautiful Days, Lee-Bauwens Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
2025 Eternal Moments, Seojung Art, Busan, Korea
2024 The landscapes remembered in the body-joy together, Gallery Bakyoung, Seoul, Korea
2023 The Beautiful Days, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2022 The Beautiful Scars, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2021 Lines and Complexes, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2020 Jungwoo Hong’s Solo Exhibition, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2019 Painting and Drawing show: A matter irrelevant to you, Kyoungmin Museum
2018 Unreadable Diary, Artmora Gallery, New Jersey, USA
2018 The Blur scapes: Monologue of Doodle, Cyart Document
2018 Weight of Emotions, The Third Place
2017 The Landscapes remembered in the body - L’espace71 Young artist compet, L’espace71
2017 Timid Violence: Doodling, Gachang art studio, Dae-gu art factory
2017 Self doodling: Mind-mapping, gallery Minnim, Korea
2016 Landscape of Mind Inside and Out, SOA Gallery, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia
and more
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 Light Across Layers, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2025 Microcosmos, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2025 Connect : Art and Design, N Gallery, Seongnam, Korea
2024 Define Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2024 Art on Paper Brussels, Brussels, Belgium
2024 POSITIONS Berlin Art Fair, Berlin, Germany
2024 Kiaf SEOUL, Seoul, Korea
2024 Limited Edition Art Fair, Brussels, Belgium
2021 The 6th Pakyoung art competition show-The shift(gallery Pakyoung, Paju)
2021 Post Print 2021 (Kimhisue art center of art gallery, Seoul)
2020 Awarded 14 artists show: Danwon it-da, Danwon art museum, Ansan, Korea
2018 Landscapes where you live, Crossing Collective, New York, USA
2016 Togetherness-Print exhibition, Taiwan International Printmaking Centre, Taiwan
2016 Grad Show, Melbourne Central’s Knox Place, Melbourne, Australia
2014 Museum of International Connectivity, Dirty Dozen, Melbourne, Australia
2012 ‘Chaos’ Yesterday and Today, Dark Horse Experiment, Melbourne, Australia
2012 The 5th Beijing International Art Biennale, China
2012 The 7th International Triennial of Graphic Art Bitola, Macedonia
2012 The 2st Guanlan International Print Biennial, Shenzen, China
2012 The 15th International Print Biennial VARNA, Bulgaria
2012 CSAF-China Shanghai International Arts Festival, Shanghai, China
2008 International 2008 in New York, gallery Hun, New York, USA
2008 Edmonton Print International, Canada
2008 The 1st Yunnan International Print Biennale, China
2008 The 2nd Bangkok International Print and Drawing Triennial, Thailand
2008 Collaborative Print Exhibition 2008 in Asia, Japan
and more
AWARDS
2018 The 20th Danwon Art Festival the winning of a prize, Seoul, Korea
2012 The 7th International Triennial of Graphic Art Bitola, the winning of a prize, Republic of Macedonia
2011 The 16th Space International Print Biennial, the winning of a prize, Seoul, Korea
2009 The 2st Guanlan International Print Biennial, the winning of a prize, Shenzhen, China
2009 The 15th International Print Biennial VARNA, the winning of a prize, Bulgaria
2009 The 11th Danwon Art Competition, the first prize, Ansan, Korea
2008 The 2nd Bangkok International Print and Drawing Triennial, the winning of a prize, Bangkok, Thailand
2008 The 1st Yunnan International Print Biennial, the winning of a prize, China
2008 Gyung-ki Art Competition Festival, the winning of a special prize, Ansan, Korea
2007 The 1st Guanlan International Print Biennial, the winning of the Print Prize, Shenzhen, China
2007 The International Print Exhibition Tokyo 2007, the winning of a prize, Tokyo, Japan
2007 The 10th Danwon Art Competition, the winning of a prize, Ansan, Korea
2007 The 26th Grand Art Competition of Korea, the winning of a special prize, Korea
2007 Mu-Dng National Art Competition Festival, the winning of a special prize, Gwang-ju, Korea
2006 Danwon National Art Competition, the winning of a prize, Ansan, Korea
2006 Korea Contemporary Print Competition Festival, the winning of a prize, Paju, Korea
and more
RESIDENCIES
2009 Guanlan Printmaking Workshop, Shenzhen, China
2017 Gachang art studio, Daegu, Korea
COLLECTIONS
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art Bank (MMCA Seoul)
Danwon Art Museum
The Guanlan International Print Biennial, Shenzhen, China
The International Print Exhibition Tokyo 2007, Sakima Art Museum, Japan
The 3th Print Exchange Exhibition, Luxun Academy, China
Private Collections