Why do we perceive as we perceive? Michael Joo’s non-linear, almost cyclical approach to his practice, together with his combination of scientific language and research, results in work that is...
Why do we perceive as we perceive? Michael Joo’s non-linear, almost cyclical approach to his practice, together with his combination of scientific language and research, 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 multi-dimensional 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. This work is part of his silver nitrate painting series, which strives to make visible the invisible, allowing viewers to literally see themselves in the work.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2017
Michael Joo, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, KR (forthcoming)
Michael Joo, La Galeria Carles Taché, Barcelona, ES
Seven Sins, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York, NY 2016
Barrier Island, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) Georgia, US
Perspectives: Michael Joo, Smithsonian Freer|Sackler Museum, Washington D.C., US
Radiohalo, Blain|Southern London, UK
2014
Drift (Bronx), The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, US
Transparency Engine, SCAD Moot Gallery, Sham Shui Po, HK
Solo presentation of Doppelganger, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, UK
Michael Joo: Drift, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Connecticut, US
2013
Michael Joo, M Building, Art Basel Miami Beach 2013, Miami, US
2012
Exit from the House of Being, Blain|Southern Lo
Bodhi Obfuscatus (Allegiance), Chelsea Art Museum, New York, US
2008
Circannual Rhythm, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, AK
PKM Gallery, Seoul, KR
2006
Michael Joo, Rodin Gallery (Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art), Seoul, KR
2005
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
Bodhi Obfuscatus (Space-Baby), Asia Society, New York, US
Still Lives, The Bohen Foundation, New York, US 2004
Michael Joo, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, US 2003
Michael Joo, MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, US
2002
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
Curti/Gambuzzi & Co., Milan, IT
PKM Gallery, Seoul, KR
2001
49th Venice Biennale, South Korean Pavilion, Venice, IT (with Do-Ho Suh)
1999
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
1998
White Cube, London, UK
1997
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
1996
Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US
1995
Crash, Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London, UK
Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, FR
Nature vs. Nature at the Glass Ceiling, Stedelijk Museum Bureau Amsterdam, NL (with Christiaan
Bastiaans)
Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US 1994
Salt Transfer Cycle, Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US (in collaboration with
Petzel/Borgmann Gallery) 1992
The Artifice of Expenditure, Nordanstad-Skarstedt Gallery, New York, US
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2017
Ark, Chester Cathedral, UK
Emanation 2017: An Invitational Contemporary Art Exhibit, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Centre,
New Jersey, US
Glasstress, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Florida, US
Vitreous Bodies: Assembled Visions in Glass, Stephen D. Paine Galleries, MassArts, Boston, US
Naturalia, curated by Danny Moynihan, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US
2016
Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang-si, KR
Still (the) Barbarians, Curated by Koyo Kouoh, EVA International Biennale 2016, Limerick, IE
Force of Nature (curated by James Putnam), Galerie Valérie Bach, Brussels, BE
2015
Antoine d'Agata, Bosco Sodi, Cornelia Parker, Javier Pérez, Keith Tyson, Michael Joo, Sean Scully and
Tony Cragg, Galeria Carles Taché, Barcelona, ES
Seoul, Vite, Vite! (curated by Jean-Max Colard), as part of Lille3000, Euralille, Lille, FR
America Is Hard To See, Film & Video Screenings: MIND EYE BODY, Whitney Museum of
American Art, New York, US
Glasstress 2015 Gotika, Istituto Veneto di Scienze Lettere ed Arti, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, IT
Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, AE
2014
The Space Where I Am, Blain|Southern London, UK
BloodFlames, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US
On the Blue Shore of Silence, Tracy Williams Ltd. And Fitzroy Gallery, New York, US
2013
White Light/White Heat, The Wallace Collection, London, UK
Come Together: Surviving Sandy, curated by Phong Bui, Industry City, Brooklyn, New York, US
Indivisible, Art Basel Unlimited, Organized by Kukje Gallery, Basel, CH
White Light/White Heat, Glasstress 2013, Venice, IT
Amor Fati, Pioneer Works, New York, US
Vivere, Paddle 8, New York, US
2012
Freedom Not Genius, Works from Damien Hirst’s Murderme Collection (curated by Elena Geuna),
Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, IT; Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, RU
Roundtable, 9th Gwangju Biennale 2012, Gwangju, KR
Sculptors’ Drawings and Works on Paper, Pangolin London, London, UK
Glasstress New York, Museum of Art and Design, New York, US
Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art, works from the Rockefeller Collection of Asian Art, Asia
Society Gallery, HK
2011
Surreal versus Surrealism in Contemporary Art, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, ES
Best of Silver: Selected Sculptures in Silver, Pangolin, London, UK
Glasstress 2011, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, IT
2010
Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Venison, Berlin, DE (with Damien Hirst)
The Infinite Starburst of Your Cold Dark Eyes, PKM Gallery, Seoul, KR
Dirty Kunst, Seventeen Gallery, London, UK
2009
NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, Miami Art Museum, FL
Incarnational Aesthetics, New York Center for Art & Media Studies (NYCAMS), US
Faces & Facts: Korean Contemporary Art in New York, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US
2008
Friends and Family, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, The Menil Collection, Houston, US
Re asia, Haus der Kulturen, Berlin, DE
NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, MoMA PS1, New York, US
Focus: The Figure (Art form the Logan Collection), Denver Art Museum, US
2007
New York States of Mind, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US
Triennale Bovisa: Timer 01, Milan, IT
Post Object, Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario, CA
2006
In The Darkest Hour There Will Be Light, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
The Bong Show, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, US
Postcards From The Edge, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, US
6th Gwangju Biennale 2006, Gwangju, CN
Eretica, Palazzo Sant’ Anna, Palermo, IT
Flux Factory, Lennon Weinberg Gallery, New York, US
Comunicato Stampo, Curti/Gambuzzi & Co., Milan, IT
Implosion!, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
RADAR: Selections From The Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Denver Art Museum, US
Wallin vs Joo, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö, SE
2005
Artwalk NY, Sotheby’s, New York, US
e-Flux Video Rental, The Moore Space, Miami, US
Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, US
Monuments For The US, CCA Wattis Institute For Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; White
Columns, New York, US
Postcards From The Edge, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, US
This Must Be The Place, Center For Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, US
In The Darkest Hour There Will Be Light, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
2004
D.u.m.b.o. Short Film and Video Festival, Brooklyn, New York, US
Black Belt, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, US
f#@k perfection, Vertex List, Brooklyn, New York, US
Field (curated by Alyson Baker), Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, US
Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, US
Needful Things: Recent Multiples, Cleveland Museum, US
Postcards From the Edge, Brent Sikkema Gallery, New York, US
Standing on a Bridge, Arario Gallery, Seoul, KR
Video Program, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Beach, US
2003
Alumni Show, Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, Middletown, US
Black Belt, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, US
Commodification of Buddhism, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, US
Fresh Talk Revisited, A/P/A Studies Gallery at New York University, US
Full Frontal, Contemporary Asian Artists from the Logan Collection, Denver Art Museum, US
Paradise/Paradox, Castle Gallery, The College of New Rochelle, US
2002
Black Mariah Film Festival, Jersey City, US
It's Unfair!, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, NL
Manifeste, oder: Ergriffenheit–was ist das?, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, DE
The Mind is a Horse, Bloomberg Space, London, UK
2001
A Contemporary Cabinet of Curiosities, Selections from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection,
California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, US
I Love (benefit exhibition), Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, DE, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US
2000
The Whitney Biennale, New York, US
Drawings 2000, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, US
Korean Embassy, New York, US
Juvenilia, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, California, US
Koreamericakorea, Artsonje Center, Seoul, KR; Sonje Museum, Kyungju, KR
The Korean War and American Art: Fifty Years Later, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, US
Media_City Seoul 2000, National Historical Museum, Seoul, KR
Psycho, Art and Anatomy, Anne Faggianto Fine Art, London, UK
Whitney Biennial 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
1998
Matthew McCaslin, Susan Etkin, Michael Joo, MoMA PS1, New York, US
Nine International Artists at Wanås, Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, SE
Selections from the Permanent Collection, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US
1997
2nd Johannesburg Biennial 1997, Museum of Africa, Johannesburg, ZA
Art Club Berlin, Berlin, DE
Art in the Anchorage, Creative Time, Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, Brooklyn, New York, US
Group Show: Painting, Photography, Drawing, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
Techno-Seduction, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, US
Transmission, L´Ecole des Beaux Arts Galerie, Paris, FR
1996
Against, Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London, UK
The Damien Hirst Collection, Quo Vadis, London, UK
Joo, Sheward & White, Wigram, The Post Office, London, UK
Patrick Painter Editions, Bloom Gallery, Amsterdam, NL
1995
La Belle et la Bête, (Beauty and the Beast), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, FR
Better Living Through Chemistry, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, US
Configura 2 - Dialog der Kulturen, Erfurt, DE
Institute of Cultural Anxiety, Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), London, UK
Kwangju Biennale, Kwangju Contemporary Museum, KR
Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, US
Portalen, Copenhagen, DK
Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US 1994
Institute of Cultural Anxiety, ICA, London, UK
Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki, Finland; Kunstverein, Hannover, DE
What Is in Your Mind?, Tekniska Museet, Stockholm, SE
1993
Across the Pacific, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US
Aperto-93, 45th Venice Biennale, Venice, IT
Changing I: Dense Cities, Shedhalle, Zurich, CH
The Final Frontier, New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, US
Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne, DE
In Out of the Cold, Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena, San Francisco, US
Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US (with Rachel Berwick)
Recent Acquisitions, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE
Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, DE
1992
Galerie Metropol, Vienna, AT
Mimique, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, US
Unfair, Nordanstad Gallery at Balloni Halle, Cologne, DE
1988
Demolition Daze, exhibition/auction, Rifle Sport Gallery, Minneapolis, US