VIDEO: Jongsuk Yoon-It Happens on the Canvas

At first glance, Jongsuk Yoon’s paintings seem to belong to the abstract expressionist tradition. She is well acquainted with European and American modernism after long art studies in Europe.

However, growing up in her home country, South Korea, and learning about the art traditions here, are a strong influence as well: “The intense experience with nature made me paint landscapes.”

Yoon’s paintings are developed during meditation and deep concentration. Her muted colours and frequent changes in perspective, landscape elements, and gestures are reminiscent of Asian calligraphy. But beneath the expressive surface, tranquillity and silence are hidden.

Jongsuk Yoon describes her creative process as communication with the painting. “My ideas take shape on the canvas as I paint. The finished image is not in my head. It is the painting itself that tells me what to do.”

Jongsuk Yoon (b 1965), in Onyang, South Korea, moved to Europe in 1995. She lives and works in Düsseldorf, Germany. Jongsuk Yoon studied at the Art Academy in Münster in 1996, the Art Academy in Düsseldorf from 1997–2001, and the Chelsea College of Art in London from 2004–2005.

Jongsuk Yoon was interviewed by Marie Estrup at Galleri Specta in Copenhagen, Denmark, in March 2022. Camera: Simon Weyhe, Edited by: Signe Boe Pedersen, Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner, © Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2022
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