The First Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art

Sun-Ok Uwas born in 1958 in lncheon, South Korea. She gained a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Ewha Women's University, Seoul, and then took a Master of Fine Arts in Painting at Kunstakademie Dusseldorf, Germany in 1990. To date, the artist has held three solo exhibitions, in Seoul in 1991 and 1993, and in Dusseldorf in 1992. Her work received the 1992 Art Prize for aYoung Artist in Dusseldorf and the Grand Prize at the 'Vilnius Triennale', the Young Artists Triennale of the Baltic States, in 1992. Sun-Ok U's work is represented in the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul and in the collection of the Kunstakademie Dusseldorf. The artist works from studios in Ewha Women's University and International House, Dusseldorf. A philosophical approach to the nature of existence is the basic idea behind the art of Sun-Ok U. The coinage 'materialimmaterial' is synthesised from two opposing words - 'material' and its antonym 'immaterial'. 'Materialimmaterial' echoes Sun-Ok U's belief that all the meanings which are contrary to each other are eventually converged to be identical, and that therefore distinctions between conflicting concepts such as soul and body, idea and reality, light and shadow, come to be meaningless. The artist delivers this 'Zen' idea through very conceptual installation work, rejecting convent ional aesthetics which aim at representation of objects into pictorial or sculptural forms. Sun-Ok U's metaphorical installation work functions as a text which induces viewers to respond as a part of her work and to draw conclusions for themselves regarding its meaning. Based on an article by Kyung Mee Park and biographical data supplied by the National Museum of Contemporary Art, Korea SOUTH KOREA SUN-OK U 87 Materielllmmateriell– a room (for John Cage) 1993 Cotton fabric and projected light Fabric, 12 pieces: 540x550cm (each) Collection: The artist