Michael Joo Korean-American, b. 1966
Why do we perceive as we perceive? Michael Joo takes a non-linear, almost cyclical approach to his practice. Together with his combination of scientific language and research, it results in work that is a documentation of process.
Whether chemically treated, silver-coated, or photo- based, Joo’s artwork combines a range of techniques associated with sculpture, painting, photography, and printmaking. He continues to blur the boundaries between art and science through his investigation into ontology, epistemology, and entropy, creating a cross-disciplinary and multidimensional dialogue to engage, question, meditate, and explore.
By juxtaposing humanity’s various pools of knowledge and culture, Joo addresses the fluid nature of identity itself. It seems as if the artist’s intention is to achieve the unachievable: to make us see an object in real life that is barely conceivable as thought alone.
Using silver nitrate, a chemical traditionally used in photography, the artist explores the compound’s inherent reflective properties and ability to render visible the invisible. It allows the viewer to both be bathed in the reflected light of the work while physically appearing within the work itself, at once seeing the artist’s work and their own response to it.
Joo is more interested in the way we perceive than in what it is we are looking at, in the symbolic as well as the literal sense. The seemingly liquid and hybrid environments that Joo creates reflect his own history. Born to Korean parents in the United States, a science graduate turned artist, Joo comes from a multicultural background with an interdisciplinary academic history. The diversity of reference and material in his work mirrors the complexity and richness that are so typical of identity—collective and individual—in modern contemporary society. It is a complexity that Joo has experienced and been influenced by since childhood.
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.
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Michael JooAll One Thing, 2020Plastic 3D print11 x 15 x 10 in
27.9 x 38.1 x 25.4 cm -
Michael JooFrom Without, 2020ABS 3D print with inflatable pillow.15 x 23 x 18 in
38.1 x 58.4 x 45.7 cm -
Michael JooSingle Breath Transfer (Hyperpolarized), 2020Archival inkjet print24 x 32 in
61 x 81.3 cmEdition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof -
Michael JooSingle Breath Transfer (Xenon), 2020Archival inkjet print24 x 32 in
61 x 81.3 cm
Unframed
+ $500 to frameEdition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof -
Michael JooUntitled, 2020Quadrophonic multimedia installation (14 minutes, 53 seconds)Dimensions variableEdition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof
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Michael JooUntitled 1 (Single Breath Transfer), 2018-2019Mold-blown glass18 1/2 x 8 x 7 1/2 in
47 x 20.3 x 19.1 cm -
Michael JooUntitled 2 (Single Breath Transfer), 2018-2019Mold-blown glass17 x 8 x 7 1/2 in
43.2 x 20.3 x 19.1 cm -
Michael JooUntitled 3 (Single Breath Transfer), 2018-2019Mold-blown glass15 3/4 x 11 x 10 in
40 x 27.9 x 25.4 cm -
Michael JooUntitled 4 (Single Breath Transfer), 2018-2019Mold-blown glass17 x 11 x 8 in
43.2 x 27.9 x 20.3 cm -
Michael JooUntitled 5 (Single Breath Transfer), 2018-2019Mold-blown glass18 5/8 x 8 x 6 in
47.2 x 20.3 x 15.2 cm -
Michael JooVarious Low Mass Stars (Las Planes 1-4), 2015 - 2020Hand-signed box set, archival inkjet prints on gloss paper8 x 10 in
20.3 x 25.4 cmEdition of 5 plus 2 artist's proofs -
Michael JooAcquired, 2018-2019Silvered epoxy on paper60 x 81 in
152.4 x 205.7 cm -
Michael JooEntasis (bark), 2016Silver nitrate and epoxy ink on canvas132 x 96 x 2 in
335.3 x 243.8 x 5.1 cm -
Michael JooEntasis (cambium), 2016Silver nitrate and epoxy ink on canvas132 x 96 x 2 in
335.3 x 243.8 x 5.1 cm -
Michael JooSingle Breath Transfer, 2018Mold-blown glass17 x 10 x 9 in
43.2 x 25.4 x 22.9 cm -
Michael JooUntitled (Single Breath Transfer), 2018Mold-blown glass20 x 9 x 7 in
50.8 x 22.9 x 17.8 cm -
Michael JooRelinquished, 2018-2019Silvered epoxy on paper60 x 81 in
152.4 x 205.7 cm -
Michael JooUniformitarian Assumptions (Yes), 2017Resin and lunar caustic silver on canvas62 x 46 x 1 1/2 in
157.5 x 116.8 x 3.8 cm -
Michael JooUntitled, 2018Cast glass36 x 36 x 5 in
91.4 x 91.4 x 12.7 cm -
Michael JooUntitled, 2018Cast glass48 x 48 x 5 in
121.9 x 121.9 x 12.7 cm -
Michael JooUntitled (9.27.13), 2013Silvered low-iron glass48 x 24 x 7
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Michael JooUntitled (Antlers), 1999Antler and stainless steel100 x 20 x 11 in
254 x 50.8 x 27.9 cm -
Michael JooVarious Low Mass Stars (NY Farm Colony 1), 2018Silver nitrate and epoxy ink on canvas62 x 47 x 1 1/2 in
157.5 x 119.4 x 3.8 cm -
Michael JooVarious Low Mass Stars (NY Farm Colony 2), 2018Silver nitrate and epoxy ink on canvas62 x 47 x 2 in
157.5 x 119.4 x 5.1 cm
Unframed
+$1,000 to frame
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Michael Joo: Hawaii Triennial 2022
The Bishop Museum 18 Feb - 8 May 2022Working at the interstices of art and science, Michael Joo’s studio practice creates space for an abstract analysis into ideas inspired by the metaphysical and thinking sciences. Born into a...Read more -
Michael Joo, Sensory Meridian
Kavi Gupta | 219 N. Elizabeth St., Second Floor, Chicago, IL 14 Jan - 10 Apr 2021Kavi Gupta presents a multi-media exhibition of works by Michael Joo. Three new sculptures of disincarnate body parts, alchemized from scans of historical works in the Smithsonian Archives, explore issues of representation, transmission, and transformation.Read more -
Project: Michael Joo
Kavi Gupta | 835 W. Washington Blvd. Chicago, IL, 60607 9 Feb - 16 Mar 2019Kavi Gupta is pleased to present Project: Michael Joo.Read more
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Frieze New York Viewing Room 2021
6 - 9 May 2021For Frieze New York 2021, Kavi Gupta presents an online exhibition highlighting key works from some of today’s most influential contemporary artists. Recent works by...Read more -
In Conversation Michael Joo & Charles Gaines
9 Apr 2021For the next installment of In Conversation, Michael Joo and Charles Gaines will discuss Joo's exhibition Sensory Meridian and the thematic cross sections between their...Read more -
Art Basel Miami Beach: OVR
2 - 6 Dec 2020Revolution in art transcends the object. New positions rely on theoretical as well as material concerns. For ABMB OVR, Kavi Gupta presents works that demonstrate...Read more -
Aspen Intersect 2020
22 - 26 Jul 2020Kavi Gupta is pleased to participate in Intersect Aspen’s first edition of online Viewing Rooms. On view in the Kavi Gupta viewing room are works...Read more -
Frieze New York 2019
2 - 5 May 2019Kavi Gupta is pleased to participate in Frieze New York. Kavi Gupta Gallery will be located at Booth B22. For more information please contact 312-432-0708.Read more -
Art Basel Miami Bach 2018
6 - 9 Dec 20182018 has been a landmark year for AFRICOBRA (African Commune of Bad Relevant Artists), which was founded in Chicago in 1968 and defined the aesthetic...Read more