Seung Yul Oh
Monologue, 2010 / 2021
Wood, fabric, fibreglass, resin, epoxy paint
1000mm (height) x 1450 x 1550mm
As a multimedia artist working across painting, sculpture and performance art, Seung Yul Oh’s practice is embedded with elements of whimsy and playfulness. Born in Korea, Seung moved to New Zealand to study at the University of Auckland's Elam School of Fine Arts, where he graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. He is now permanently based in New Zealand and continues to show internationally, his artworks blending East Asian popular culture with ironic references to high Western art history.
Much of Oh’s art-making has revolved around the element of surprise. His iconic OnDo - a fantastic larger-than-life sculpture of noodles and chopsticks in the Asian foodie hub of Auckland’s Dominion Road - offers a humorous experiment with scale and there is also a play with the force of gravity as it’s deliberately difficult to discern whether the mountain of noodles is launching the chopsticks skyward or the other way around.
There is also a gentle trickery present in Oh’s practice as he seeks to challenge the viewer’s expectations; he employs humorous trials with the way an object fits or sits in a space or, better still, the way a viewer interacts with the artwork causes the viewer to think twice: can I fit in here? This is the case in Periphery, a forest of towering yellow and white inflatable tubes that audience members were forced to push their way through, their sometimes humorous, sometimes awkward experiences therefore becoming part of the artwork.
With a slightly more mysterious nature, Oh’s Monologue is no less cheeky and performative. Describing the arrival of a solo speech, the title of the artwork gives further rise to the anticipation of entertainment. Faced with a slick, monochromatic object with an automotive paint finish, the viewer is encouraged to move around it and invited to wonder if they have discovered a performance stage or a cover-up. Intriguingly, the hard lines of a cubed box meet the soft folds of falling fabric, hinting at a surreal and shifting quality. This trickiness gives the object its power: Is it soft or solid? Is it multi-layered or all-in-one? Is it concealing something, or will all be revealed for those who wait? Has the performance been and gone or is the magic about to begin?
Monochrome encourages the act of sustained viewing and wonder, and certainly the more one gazes upon it, the more mysterious it becomes. Perhaps the answers will never arrive and perhaps this ‘not knowing’ is the goal. As Oh has suggested, “the viewer is given the opportunity to test their perception and imagine the possibilities, but they may also be challenged to accept that there is no resolution - it simply is what it is!”
More from this artist
Artist Bio
b.1981
Education: 2004 M.F.A Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand 2003 B.F.A Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
Solo Exhibitions:
2020 Touch, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul. Korea
2018 Vary very, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul. Korea
Horizontal Loop, STARKWHITE Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand Soom: variation II, Xinchang Culture Centre, Shanghai, China
2016 Slit Scan, Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga, New Zealand
2015 HaaPoom, Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Left, Right, ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2014 SOOM, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
memmem, STARKWHITE Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
MOAMOA, a Decade, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand 2013 MOAMOA, Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Huggong, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand
SEESAW, ONE AND J. GALLERY, Seoul, Korea 2012 Huggong, Starkwhite Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand 2011 Bok, The Physics Room, Christchurch, New Zealand
Solo Group Show, ggooll, Seoul, Korea
2010 Bogle Bogle, The New Dowse Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
2009 Pokpo, Artspace, Auckland, New Zealand
2008 Oddooki, Sculpture Court, Te Papa the Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
Daradaradarada, STARKWHITE Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand 2007 Ssendong, Starkwhite Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2006 Chew Chew Tongue, Starkwhite Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
All the Way Down Back Inside the Bones of Your Spine, Peter's Garage, Auckland, New Zealand
2004 Sniffing Onioned Armpit, Special Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
2003 Seung, Deepfried at Peter's Garage, Peter's Garage, Auckland, New Zealand
The Ability to Blow Themselves up, Spiral Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
Public Commissions:
2018 Form in Formation, Nelson Sculpture Trust, Richmond Library, Nelson, New Zealand 2017 Upon a Pond and Drop a Loop, Albany Swimming Pool, Auckland, New Zealand
Conduct Cumulus, SCAPE Public Art, Arts Centre,Christchurch, New Zealand
Echo of the loop, Doha Jigu, Commissioned by Incheon City Council, Korea 2015 Ondo, Albert-Eden Local Board, Dominion Road, Aukland, New Zealand 2014 Soom, Sculpture Court, Auckland Art Gallery, Aukland, New Zealand
GoGammSannHammSabb, Amore Pacific Korea, Jeju Island, Korea
2012 Beat connection / Pumanawa O Te Whenua, Commissioned by Mesh sculpture Trust, Hamilton, New Zealand
2010 Knocknock, Commissioned by New Market Sculpture Trust, Auckland, New Zealand
Awards and Grants:
2005 The Waikato National Art Award, Hamilton 2007, New Zealand 2003 Goldwater Art Award, Waiheke Island, New Zealand
Collections:
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin, New Zealand
Chartwell Collection, Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand James Wallace Art Trust, Auckland, New Zealand
Te papa, Museum of New Zealand, Wellington, New Zealand
The New Dowse Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Australia
Amorepacific Museum of Art Project, Jeju, Korea
