Jeong-Ju Jeong(Gallery Chosun)
Jeongju Jeong is a poet of atmosphere and experience of light – confronting with moments and effects. In the juxtaposition of media, the exploration of light on a formal level and the choice of perspective, he makes the viewer aware of the full range of spatial perception and authenticity of the moment.
Jeong Jeong-Ju majored in sculpture at Hongik University, and then went to study at Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in Germany, where he was awarded the title Meisterschüler from Professor Hubert Kiecol in 2002. Since the late 1990s, the artist has been creating works that combine physically fixed places and light source that is in constant movement. His interest in light developed from a memory of a small room that he lived in during his early years in Germany. He felt that the bright light that entered his room and slowly crept up toward him is frightening, and the way light that originated from the sun, so distant to even fathom, moved in his small room even made him feel dizzy. Jeong took photos of light entering through the window, made drawings of them in the space, changed the shape of light, or used mirrors to bring light into the space. He also transformed the light that entered through the window into an architectural structure where his body can fit. Jeong claims that he experiences a psychological and religious healing or discovers a channel to another world or dimension in seeing the light transform into an architectural space or opening the door and stepping into the territory of light.
Since his first solo exhibition in 2000, he has held a number of solo exhibitions in Germany, Belgium, Korea, Japan, and China, and participated in various group exhibitions, including the Gwangju Biennale Special Exhibition and Leeum Artspectrum. Jeong’s works are part of the collections at the Seoul Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Busan, Daegu Art Museum, Gwangju Museum of Art, Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art, Jeonnam Museum of Art, ZKM in Germany, and CJ Cultural Foundation.
Jeongju Jeong, 〈metaphysical star21-2〉, 2022, stainless steel, led light, size variable, 200 x 200 x 200 (5piece )
Jeongju Jeong, 〈4rooms〉, 2022, 3d animation framed 22" monitor, 50 x 30 cm., 50 x 30 cm.
Jeong Jeong-Ju has been exploring the organic relationship between architectural space and light. If the interior of an architectural space in the work is a metaphor for a person’s psychology or inner side, the exterior is a story about the world surrounding the artist, such as others, society, power, and the gods.
In 27 Rooms, various buildings located in Seoul are shown in 27 spaces separated by a stainless-steel grid structure installed on a monitor screen.
Lobby is a work that combines an architectural model made of stainless-steel and a video of performers. A video that tells a story about a person’s wounds and shows what the person does to heal those wounds is installed inside the architectural model in place of a camera. The actor in the video is a young woman who heals her wound by hiding her face in her hair. A subtle combination of visual and psychological elements is created through the contrast between the lobby building, through which the inside is clearly visible, and the actor who hides away into herself.
Jeong has been constantly observing changing light and attempting to record and structuralize that light. The contrast between the constant movement of light and the solid architectural structure of material feels like the physical form of anxiety caused by the outside elements – space, other people, light, air, city and atmosphere – experienced through the sense of the body.
Jeongju Jeong, 〈Lobby〉, 2012, stainless steel, monitor, 130 x 120 x 80 cm.
Metaphysical Star, an abstraction of the movement of light around the interior and exterior of a building, is a symbol of empty sublimity created with the artificial light and colors of LED lighting, which equates to a symbol of capitalism.
Jeongju Jeong, 〈Room with Yellow Door〉, 2022, 3d animation,framed32"monitor, 75.2 x 44.7 x 7.2 cm.
Jeongju Jeong, 〈Facade2022C-2-Blue, 2022〉, 2022, stainless steel, 200 x 48 x 9 cm. (4)
Façade 2019 is a sculptural work consisting of architectural elements such as walls, windows, and doors. Façade generally refers to a path that leads in from the outside to the inside. To the artist, it also symbolizes the path of building relationships with others. Through the building structures and light emanated in various colors, this work represents the “layers” of various relationships and emotions that form and emerge inside and outside cities.