Kiaf Seoul 2024: Why Seo Wonmi is the Korean Artist to Watch

One of our top picks for winner of KIAF Seoul 2024, Seo Wonmi is a Korean artist to watch. In an interview with Prestige, she delves into her iNFLuences and artistic process.

What we most like about the work of Seo Wonmi is discovering a 2019 post on her Instagram of the Prestige HK March cover featuring Neo Rauch. Is she fan-girding Rauch? Not as such, but she acknowledges liking the “vivid yet faded atmosphere of his paintings.” Which might be an art description for much of her own work, versatile as it is. 

Seo, a Sungkyunkwan University Art Department graduate, started out delving into the intricate realms of the human psyche, and the complex interplay of memory, anxiety and trauma. In more recent work, on view through La Heen Gallery at KIAF 24, she’s been experimenting with abstract forms, liberating herself from the limitations of traditional form and content.  

She will be showcasing work that revolves around the theme of words. Her trophy work Cowboy Whistle (2023) is robust with intent, and somehow feels like the result of artist Clare Shenstone directing a Francis Bacon portrait. (Shenstone was a lifelong friend of Bacon).

Are you a big fan of the work of Neo Rauch? What do you like about his work?

Neo Rauch’s paintings are full of new images he created along with the History and region of the time. I like the vivid yet faded atmosphere of his paintings.

Which contemporary Korean artists do you follow and why?

I like artist Suh Yong-sun’s paintings. He depicts Korean History primarily using very primitive colours and shapes. It feels like a painting drawn by a shaman.

One has the sense of physical and emotional flux very strongly in your work.  Do you work fast or slowly? Do you listen to music, if so what? Do you dress a particular way when you paint? 

Each painting is very different. Some things are draw very quickly and some take a long time. That doesn’t seem to have much to do with the size of the painting. The image I want to draw tends to determine its own form and time. I have work clothes, but in reality, I wear any comfortable clothes. So most of my t-shirts and pants have paint on them.

Do you tend to feel more exhilaration or exasperation when you paint? Is it more ‘agony’ or ecstasy for you, the process? 

Before painting, I tend to think about what and how to draw it for quite a long time. Those times are hard, but when I start painting, I feel so ecstatic and happy. Of course, there are moments when I feel lost, but even in that stress, there is joy. Each painting makes me feel like I’m on a different journey. Just as I freely experience various emotions while drawing, I hope viewers can appreciate them without being confined by any framework. To me, art is like alchemy, transforming a perfect mirror into a transparent window.

If there is anything you want to share with us about your work?

Just as ‘mal’ in Korean is a word that refers to both horses and talk, I often think of a time when language and images were one. There were a lot of words I wanted to include in my paintings, so drawing horses started as a pun, but soon I started drawing cowboys too. In a world full of smooth and plausible things, the cowboy who emerged like a coincidence and mistake can be anywhere on the pristine white plane.