WOO KUKWON

Woo Kukwon: Early Years

Woo Kukwon’s father was a literati painter—a Chinese scholar-painter. He has spoken about how “the scent of ink, the rhythm of brushstrokes and the ever-present images became the texture of my childhood”, but also admits that he could see how tough his father’s artistic life would sometimes become, and initially elected not to follow the same career path. But he has suggested that becoming an artist was inevitable because of the way his upbringing allowed him to understand the world. As a child, he loved books—particularly when they raised questions around good and evil, or sacrifice and love. His work reimagines the ideas of childhood literature, combining mythological references and fairy tales, knotting together fantasy and reality. Born in 1976 in Seoul, he graduated from the Tokyo Designer Gakuin College in 2003.

Woo Kukwon: Artworks

Woo Kukwon’s whimsical style blends vivid colours and thick, impasto textures in works shaped by his imagination. His paintings may initially appear to be influenced by a child-like simplicity, but written words (often painted in squiggly English) add in a deeper message—all is not the sweetness and light it might first seem. He has said that his work doesn’t contain any “secret meanings”, instead inviting viewers to make their own stories from his creations.

Woo Kukwon has explained that he isn’t happy with conventional, orderly structures and began his artistic journey with spontaneous mark-making. Mainly using oil paints, he still works in an open way, occasionally using coloured pencils or sticks to paint instead of brushes. His trademark thick textures evolved from an initial desire to highlight parts of the canvas, and he also paints on chrome and “supermirror”. Blending fantasy and reality, alongside a confident use of colour, his work mixes Pop Art and figurative styles, and certain figures (for example, a white puppy) appear frequently.

• The Hunt of the Unicorn (2025) is a six-picture series featuring Woo Kukwon’s big-eyed, children’s-book-style figures, this time in a brightly detailed green-and-yellow forest as a unicorn defends himself against hunters
• Bye Peter (2022) is perhaps Woo Kukwon’s most clearly linked work to an established fairy tale—the words “All children except one grow up” are written across the bottom of the piece, referencing Peter Pan, as the artist’s familiar puppy figure and some Disneyesque characters circle a raging fire
• The Let them Eat Cake series (2022) sees thick-textured creatures at gingham-clothed tables, bright eyes contemplating gaudy, multi-tiered cakes... with a shotgun often among other objects on each table
• The Old Man and the Sea (2014), inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s novel, offers an almost child-like depiction of the water’s edge by night, featuring a dog boat-captain and a two-dimensional figure on horseback

Woo Kukwon: Exhibitions

Select Solo Exhibitions

• Universe’s Universe, Tang Contemporary Art, Singapore (2025)
• The Black Humour of Fairy Tales, Museo Hendrik Christian Andersen, Rome (2025)
• My Universe, Tang Contemporary Art, Seoul (2024)
• Once Upon Her Time, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing First Space (2023)
• Carnival, Tang Contemporaru Art, Hong Kong (2022)
• Starman, Salon de H, Seoul (2016)

Select Group Exhibitions

• August in Bloom, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong Central Space (2025)
• Ritual, Trauma and Allegory, Tang Contemporary Art, Hong Kong (2025)
• Golden, Tang Contemporary Art, Beijing First and Second Space (2024)

Further reading

• A 2025 interview in Vogue Singapore
• Woo Kukwon’s artist profile page at Tang Contemporary Art
• Notes on the exhibition Once Upon Her Time from Tang Contemporary Art
• Woo Kukwon’s Instagram

Woo Kukwon FAQs

Ocula