Stumbling upon a battered finish desk or misplaced mitten is a chance for magic in Woo Jin Joo’s thoughts. The Seoul-born artist is thought to collect furnishings, clothes, and different objects which were left behind whereas strolling close to her dwelling in London or commuting to her studio in Deptford. “I’m not actively searching for something specifically, however I uncover them by happenstance, and so they turn into significant; they provoke my creativeness,” she says. “That is how I really feel like we conjure that means in our lives.”
Mixed with clay and glossy, viscose thread, these discovered gadgets remodel into uncanny sculptures that usually meld animal our bodies with home fixtures. Human-sized figures cloaked in costumes of white and beige fringe droop on the ground or stand calmly in opposition to the wall, as if ready to be spoken to. Different works equally merge physique elements with uncommon shapes and types, together with the black boot-wearing ochre arch of “For These Who Wade” or the totemic leg topped with a carved picket desk in “Murmur.”
Tapping into the unusual and surreal is a approach for Joo to transcend the boundaries of our notion and discover how mythology and folklore would possibly present other ways of gaining information and knowledge. She believes that “even essentially the most mundane interactions can harbour potential for that means and transformation” and that her personal expertise dwelling between cultures has allowed for a extra fluid strategy. “I’m Korean-Chinese language, and I’ve been raised between the 2 nations. The tradition and tales from these East Asian nations type my reminiscence and psyche. However equally, the physicality of my dwelling in London, and the bodily encounter with sure objects is what brings out sure imagery or concepts,” she shares.
Like many artists who gravitate towards discovered objects, a part of the attraction of a forgotten or discarded materials, Joo explains, is the lives they’ve lived earlier than coming into her possession, including: “I’m left to think about, construct, and discover that means in objects that has its personal historical past. Naturally, it’s not at all times that I uncover an object that attracts me, however I nonetheless produce other artistic concepts that exist inside my creativeness that I can flip to.”
Scale can also be necessary for Joo, and several other works stand as tall because the artist. Top and heft have a presence {that a} smaller piece held on the wall can’t match, prompting viewers to maneuver across the sculptures and think about the dimensions of the works compared to their very own our bodies. “The bigger sculptures really feel further enchanting to me too because the artist, from the method of ideation to manufacturing, of how what as soon as lived in my thoughts involves inhabit a nook of my studio area as a completely animated being,” she says.
If you happen to’re in London, cease by Ruup & Kind earlier than November 13 to see Joo’s solo exhibition Bodily Inbetweenness. In early 2027, she’ll even have work on view on the Harley Basis in Nottinghamshire. Till then, sustain together with her apply on Instagram.
