Michael Joo Korean-American, b. 1966

Overview

Michael Joo is a conceptual artist whose work is rooted in an examination of perception. He is more interested in the way we perceive than what it is we are looking at.

 

Joo’s multi-disciplinary studio practice mobilizes intense scientific research, ontology, epistemology, and entropy, creating a cross-disciplinary and multidimensional dialogue that results in aesthetic phenomena that document the process of their creation. The hybrid aspect of Joo’s aesthetic language reflects his own history. Born to Korean parents in the United States, Joo was raised in a multicultural environment that was influenced by a range of interests including science, academia, and artistry.

 

By juxtaposing humanity’s various pools of knowledge and culture, Joo addresses the fluid nature of identity, mirroring the complexity and richness of his individual identity and of the collective identity of contemporary society.

 

By combining a range of techniques associated with sculpture, painting, photography, and printmaking, the work continually blurs the boundaries between art and science. Joo’s intention as an artist is to achieve the unachievable: to make us see an object in real life that is barely conceivable as thought alone.

 

Major exhibitions of Joo's work include Perspectives: Michael Joo, Smithsonian Freer | Sackler Museum, Washington, DC, USA; 49th Venice Biennale, Korean Pavilion, Italy; Sensory Meridian, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, IL, USA; Michael Joo, Conserving Momentum (Egg/Gyro/Laundry Room), White Cube London, UK; Michael Joo: Drift, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT, USA; Michael Joo: Drift (Bronx), The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, NY, USA; Michael Joo, Doppelganger, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Sussex, UK; and Michael Joo Retrospective, Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art, Palm Beach, CA, USA. Joo is a Senior Critic in Sculpture at Yale University and teaches in the Columbia University MFA program. His work is in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, and Whitney Museum of American Art in New York; Denver Art Museum; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, among others.

Works
  • Michael Joo, All One Thing, 2020
    Michael Joo
    All One Thing, 2020
    Plastic 3D print
    11 x 15 x 10 in
    27.9 x 38.1 x 25.4 cm
  • Michael Joo, From Without, 2020
    Michael Joo
    From Without, 2020
    ABS 3D print with inflatable pillow.
    15 x 23 x 18 in
    38.1 x 58.4 x 45.7 cm
  • Michael Joo, Single Breath Transfer (Hyperpolarized), 2020
    Michael Joo
    Single Breath Transfer (Hyperpolarized), 2020
    Archival inkjet print
    24 x 32 in
    61 x 81.3 cm
    Edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof
  • Michael Joo, Untitled, 2020
    Michael Joo
    Untitled, 2020
    Quadrophonic multimedia installation (14 minutes, 53 seconds)
    Dimensions variable
    Edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof
  • Michael Joo, Uniformitarian Assumptions (Yes), 2017
    Michael Joo
    Uniformitarian Assumptions (Yes), 2017
    Resin and lunar caustic silver on canvas
    62 x 46 x 1 1/2 in
    157.5 x 116.8 x 3.8 cm
  • Michael Joo, Untitled, 2012–2019
    Michael Joo
    Untitled, 2012–2019
    Borosilicate glass, silver nitrate, lacquer
    62 x 45 x 55 in
    157.5 x 114.3 x 139.7 cm
  • Michael Joo, Untitled (9.27.13), 2013
    Michael Joo
    Untitled (9.27.13), 2013
    Silvered low-iron glass
    48 x 24 x 7 in
    121.9 x 61 x 17.8 cm
  • Michael Joo, Various Low Mass Stars (NY Farm Colony 2), 2018
    Michael Joo
    Various Low Mass Stars (NY Farm Colony 2), 2018
    Silver nitrate and epoxy ink on canvas
    62 x 47 x 2 in
    157.5 x 119.4 x 5.1 cm
    Unframed
Exhibitions
Video
Press
Art Fairs
Events
Blog