Woo Tae Kyung Biography

Taekyung Woo majored in painting at the Department of Painting at Chung-Ang University in 2010 and at the Graduate School of Painting at Hongik University in 2015. She completes her work through a unique processing method that uses both digital print and oil painting within a single frame. She borrows images floating on mobile phones or the web and uses them as materials for her paintings, depicting today's landscapes where the boundaries between online and offline, virtual and real, have dissolved.

Major Works

Taekyung Woo's work begins with the collection of digital images. She collects and selects digital images through certain categories or search terms, cuts them out, and randomly places and prints these pieces on canvas. She then amplifies, proliferates, and connects these printed pieces, layering them to interrelate the fragments. Through the process, the work results in a pictorial screen that even She cannot predict. "Digital fragments that roam the diverse and multi-layered depths of the internet are scattered across Taekyung Woo's canvas, proliferating and interweaving to become a work of art. This is the birth of a 'constellation.' A constellation is a representation of a 'constructive' cognitive system that is arbitrary and can always be connected in new ways to create new stories. Thus, the constellations of the night sky, the internet, and art are formed." (Jin-guk Ahn, "Implication and Excess: Pictorial Galaxies Proliferated from Digital Constellations," solo exhibition "Between Square and Square" [Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 2022])

Parasitic Painting (2012-2014), Tail Landscape (2015-2017)

The "Parasitic Painting" series is where Taekyung Woo began to paint using digital image fragments in earnest. This work utilizes everyday images stored on her own smartphone. The "Tail Landscape" series is created by following hashtags attached to images on Instagram and collecting images in this manner.

Landscape Painting (2016-2019), Painting of Drawings (2018-2020)

While previous series used images related to her daily activities collected inconsistently, the "Landscape Painting" series and "Painting of Drawings" series utilize images that she intentionally collected through search. The "Landscape Painting" series uses images of travel destinations collected while she prepared for her trips, and the "Painting of Drawings" series uses images collected with 'drawing' as a keyword.

Twins (2020-), Series (2021-)

The "Twins" series employs two canvases arranged identically with digital image fragments, resulting in different outcomes. The "Series" works use webtoon image fragments. The works "Series3" and "Series3-1" (2022) mix the methods of the "Twins" series, with webtoon image fragments arranged identically in two pieces. "Series3" is an oil painting, while "Series3-1" is a digital painting.

Homi (2022-)

The "Homi" series utilizes images collected through search terms related to painting materials. The characteristics of specific painting materials and their textures influence the imagery of her paintings.

P Painting (2021-)

The "P Painting" series takes the initial 'P' from 'Parasitic' and 'Potential' for its title. As the title suggests, her work not only parasitizes and proliferates in the digital environment and digital image fragments but also experiments with various possibilities arising from that environment.

Awards and Selections

Taekyung Woo has been selected for Arts Support program (Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture,2017), Shinhan Bank Young Artist Festa (2015), and the Pre-Drawing Biennale Artist Competition (2013).

Exhibitions

Taekyung Woo's major solo exhibitions include "Between Square and Square" (Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 2022), "Painting of Drawings" (Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 2020), "Tail Landscape" (Gallery Chosun, Seoul, 2017), and "Parasitic Painting" (Shinhan Gallery, Seoul, 2015). Key group exhibitions include "Spiegel im Spiegel" (Seoul Museum, Seoul, 2021), "UNTACT" (P21, Seoul, 2021), "From Triangle to leaf" (Shinhan Gallery, Seoul, 2019), "The Visible and the Invisible" (Kimi Art, Seoul, 2016), "Sensitive Chatter" (Gahoedong60, Seoul, 2015), and "Drawing, the Start of Thinking" (White Block, Paju, 2013).

Text courtesy Gallery Chosun.