YUN JUNG SEO

 

YUN JUNG SEO was born in 1979 in Seoul, South Korea. Spending most of her childhood and adolescence in Kenya, Japan and Russia, she has begun studying art in 1992 in Moscow, Russia with the artist/theorist Nikolai Lvovic Selivanov at Krasnopresnenskaya Children’s Art School, one of the most well-known state art schools of the country. She continued her art studies at Seoul Arts High school in Seoul from which she graduated in 1998.  In 1999 she taught art at Malgeumteo, the center for handicapped teenage girls in Seoul.  The following year she studied sculpture at Kunihiro Sekibutsu Chogak-sho, studio of the Japanese stone sculptor Kunihiro Hidemine in Kasuya, Fukuoka, Japan. She also worked as a newspaper illustrator for a short period of time in the same year, and 50 illustrations were published in the column, "Korean and Japanese, similar but not same" of the daily newspaper Nishinihon Shimbun of Fukuoka. In 2001, after graduating from Nung-In School of Buddhism in Seoul, she moved to the USA and attended Cornell College in Iowa, where she studied figurative art and photography. The following year, selected as one of the top art students, she had her first solo exhibition at Arbor Gallery in Iowa City, Iowa, with Kenny On, Amanda Salley and the ceramist/sculptor, prof. Douglas Hanson. She has then moved to Rome, Italy, in 2002 and began her research on the problems of contemporary plastic-spatial art with the Italian master sculptor Carlo Lorenzetti who has greatly influenced her artistic vision and thoughts. In 2005 she has also began to learn printmaking from him and in 2007 she received her first official recognition in the field of graphic art, winning the ‘Honorable mention’ award at the VI Biennale Internationale de Gravure Liège in Belgium. In 2006 she earned her BFA in sculpture and received the ‘Honorable Alumnae Award’ at Ewha Womans University in Seoul.  In 2014 she earned another BFA in sculpture with highest honors ( 110 e lode ) from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma in Rome. In 2008, she was awarded third prize at Ignis 5th International Biennial of graphic art in which she participated at the invitation of the art curator Joan-Lluís de Yebra.  The exhibition was held in three different locations:  In Spain, at the Pavelló Firal of Sant Carles de la Ràpita, in Italy, at the Museo Michetti of Francavilla al Mare and in China, it took part in the III International Biennial of Art of Beijing (BIAB).  In 2009, she was invited by Klaus Rödel to have a solo show at one of the few European, and Scandinavia's only museum of Ex libris, Frederikshavn Kunstmuseum–og exlibrissamling in Denmark.  In the same year, she won third prize at the 12th European Biennial Competition for Graphic Art in Bruges, Belgium and the ‘Honorable mention’ award at the 9th International Biennial of Engraving Premio Acqui in Acqui Terme, Italy. In 2011, her works were included in the following shows: IV Premio Internacional de arte gráfico Jesús Núñez at the Fundación CIEC in Coruña, Spain, 14th International Triennial of small graphic forms Łódź in Poland and II Biennale dell’Incisione Contemporanea Città di Bassano del Grappa at the Museo Remondini in Italy. In 2012, she had a solo exhibition, Memorie (Memories), curated by Francesca Tuscano at the Galleria Arte e Pensieri in Rome with seven experimental relief-sculptures. The following year, 35 hand-made copies (with a total of 245 original printcollages) of her very first official artist book, «Di questi boschi (On these forests)» with poems by the Milanese poet Giampiero Neri, were realized in collaboration with the Roman editor, Edizioni Il Bulino, and were presented during the same year by the master graphic artist Guido Strazza and the art critic Arianna Mercanti at the Associazione Culturale Tralevolte in Rome.  Moreover, she was one of the invited artists by the art historian Giorgio Di Genova for one of the largest visual arts exhibitions in Vibo Valentia, Premio Internazionale Lìmen Arte.  In 2014, she took part in Dispositivi di Paesaggio, a unique interactive installation project by the two architects, Sara Gangemi and Filippo Abrami, and created her first pictosculpture at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome. The project was realized on the occasion of Follie d’autore at the Festival del Verde e del Paesaggio curated by the Italian architect/landscaper Franco Zagari.  In the same year, she also became a member of GRUPPO P (5 artists + 5 authors) and participated in libri d’artista– piccola edizione, an exhibition aimed to demonstrate the interconnectedness of the literary and visual arts, organized by prof. Filippo Lanci in collaboration with the artist Virginia Carbonelli at the Galleria La_lineaartecontemporanea, where, subsequently she had her solo exhibition curated by the art historian Mariantonietta Rufini. On this occasion, she presented 12 calcographic prints that constitute the fundamental basis for 'Project 3D' - Progetto Grafica/Architettura, her very first attempt to combine graphic art with sculpture. Currently she lives and works in Rome, Italy. Her art practice involves sculpture, printmaking, drawing and photography.

 

 

 

She has also received numerous international awards such as :

 

2010, ‘Premio per le arti figurative In Form of Art’, Naples, Italy, First Prize for Photography

2010, ‘3rd International Ex-libris Competition – Istanbul 2010’, Istanbul, Turkey, Honourable Mention

2009, ‘Xylon Argentina - Premios 5to. Concurso de Ex Libris’, Tandil, Argentina, First Prize

2009, ‘12th European biennial competition for graphic art’, Bruges, Belgium, Third Prize

2009, ‘9th International Biennial of Engraving Premio Acqui’’, Acqui Terme (AL), Italy, Mention

2008, ‘Concorso Internazionale ‘Fabbricanti di Libri’ 2a edizione 2008’, Aradeo (LE), Italy, Special Mention

2008, ‘International Small Engraving Salon Carbunari 2008 (10th Edition)’, Baia Mare, Romania, Third Prize

2008, ‘5th International Biennial of Miniature Art Czestochowa 2008 ’, Czestochowa, Poland, finalist

2008, ‘Ignis 5a biennal internacional d’art gràfic (Francavilla al Mare–Beijing-Sant Carles de la Ràpita)’, Spain,Third Prize

2007, ‘27th Miniprint International of Cadaqués’, Barcelona, Spain, First Prize

2007, ‘XIV Vila Nova de Cerveira International Biennial of Art’, Vila Nova de Cerveira, Portugal, Purchase Prize

2007, ‘XIII Graphic Art Biennial Drypoint, Uzice 2007’, Uzice, Serbia, Honourable Mention

2007, 'Premio Fibrenus 2007 - Carnello cArte ad Arte', Sora (FR), Italy, Mention

2007, ‘VI Biennale Internationale de Gravure Liège’, Liège, Belgium, Honourable Mention

2006, Department of Sculpture, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, South Korea, Honorable Alumnae Award'

2003, 'VII Premio Internazionale Massenzio Arte' , Rome, Italy, First Prize for Sculpture