Hero of an archival pigment print by Kukwon Woo.

Kukwon Woo

Waterfall (Amida)

€1,500
Limited edition of 5052.1 (H) × 41.6 (W) cm
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Kukwon Woo channels the sacred spirit of Japanese waterfalls in a new multi-layered print. 

Waterfall (Amida) is one of several 2025 waterfall paintings by the Korean artist, fusing inspiration from Hokusai’s historic series, A Tour of Waterfalls in the Provinces (1833-1834), with quotes from the Bible. In this particular work, Woo inscribes a passage from Psalm 23: "He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters." The juxtaposition of the Japanese master’s Ukiyo-e style with Christian scripture creates what the artist describes as an "ironic narrative",  where familiar Eastern imagery becomes a vessel for cross-cultural spirituality.

This richly textured, 13-layer archival pigment print honours the delicate beauty of traditional Japanese woodblock printmaking as well as Woo's contemporary conceptual vision.

Monochrome portrait of Woo Kokwun
Kukwon Woo9 collaborationsKukwon 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.

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