Jong Oh
MARC STRAUS is pleased to present the sixth solo exhibition of Seoul-based artist Jong Oh, opening on March 13th.
Since his last exhibition at MARC STRAUS in 2021, Jong Oh has had numerous international exhibitions, including site-specific installations at the Choi Man Lin Museum, the Busan Art Museum, Kimsechoong Museum, and The National Asian Culture Center. In each instance he responded to the unique space, its windows, hallways, and light. And yet, the individual pieces are not intended to belong to a single, specific space. Rather, for Oh, his process also entails a dialogue between himself and the space in which his works are created, where each completed sculpture serves as a record of this conversation.
Over the years, Oh’s use of materials has expanded. In 2023, Oh began to add light fixtures and objects such as marbles to his ensemble of string, wire, and sheets of Plexiglas. The series on view in this exhibition are categorized into three main groups, Line Sculptures, Folding Drawings, and Light Drawings; collectively they act as "transitional objects." Their discrete materiality serves to pivot our attention back and forth between the object to the space itself, by providing only the thinnest membrane of a visual framework, in the form of wire, a glass reflection, or bar of light. Our perception of the works and the space is affected and changed by the way we position ourselves in relation to the work. By sharing space with these pieces and allowing ourselves time to linger, we have the opportunity to slow down and become aware of their nuances. Oh challenges us to broaden our perception of space in its most expansive sense.
These are deeply meditative works that draw our attention outward even as they expand our inner awareness. If there is an overarching theme, it is that understanding requires time. We must grant ourselves the time to contemplate what we perceive in order to uncover its latent depths. The longer one remains with these works, the more they disclose. In moving from space to object to self, the essential tenets of Oh’s practice gradually come into focus and begin to unfold.
Jong Oh received his BFA from Hongik University in Seoul and his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. In September, Oh will present a solo show at SONGEUN Art Space, Seoul. Recent solo presentations include Summer Triangle at Nook Gallery, Seoul (2025); White at Perigee Gallery, Seoul (2024); and Merestone at Sabrina Amrani Gallery, Madrid (2023). He is the recipient of the 2022 Kim Se-Choong Sculpture Award and the 2021 Song Eun Art Award. In 2018, he presented a solo exhibition at the Seoul Museum of Art and participated in Sculpting With Air, a two-person exhibition at deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum in Lincoln, MA, and Every Day Is a Good Day at SPIRAL in Tokyo, Japan. In 2014, he was selected to create a large-scale public installation along the Hudson River in Peekskill, NY. His work is included in the collections of the Santa Barbara Museum of Art; Orange County Museum of Art; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; and the SongEun Art and Cultural Foundation, Seoul, among others.
