Kukwon Woo & Avant Arte
New collaboration coming soon
Neo-expressionist fables
Kukwon Woo journeys through a world full of paradoxes drawing inspiration from every encounter. He synthesises these experiences into neo-expressionist paintings full of wit and wonder. He often paints children on heroic adventures or battling everyday tasks, accompanied by animal sidekicks and fairytale friends. These images are juxtaposed with text that ranges from comedic to philosophical. The result is sometimes absurd, like a pony reading decolonial theorist Franz Fanon (I Hate Mornings, 2020). Although he’s fluent in irony, his goal is to recreate the pure expression of a child “truly im...
Kukwon Woo journeys through a world full of paradoxes drawing inspiration from every encounter. He synthesises these experiences into neo-expressionist paintings full of wit and wonder. He often paints children on heroic adventures or battling everyday tasks, accompanied by animal sidekicks and fairytale friends. These images are juxtaposed with text that ranges from comedic to philosophical. The result is sometimes absurd, like a pony reading decolonial theorist Franz Fanon (I Hate Mornings, 2020). Although he’s fluent in irony, his goal is to recreate the pure expression of a child “truly immersed in a moment – happiness, joy, anger, hate, jealousy, envy, weakness.”
To get closer to pure expression, Woo unlearned the habit of writing neatly. His messy script frames many of his canvases with phrases like “a baby is God’s opinion that life should go on” (Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love your tomorrow, 2021). At face-value, it expresses Woo’s excitement as a then father-to-be. However, the words betray their writer’s awareness of life cycles and religion, and therefore mortality and morality. While works like Rainbow is Illusion (2022) are overtly cynical, the lurking existential dread is always softened by the pastel colours and rag-doll texture of Woo’s painting. Like all good fabulists, he excels at the gentle push and pull between knowledge and innocence.
Bio
Kukwon Woo (he/him) was born in Korea in 1976. He lives and works in Seoul.
Process
To create texture, Woo scratches the surface of still-wet paint with a pencil or the tail end of a brush. The scratched grooves create the illusion of woven fabric.
Collectors
Woo is a favourite among celebrities and art institutions across the globe. His collectors include LVMH Foundation, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, and V from BTS.