Seung Yul Oh | Atonal Sonority

Courtesy of the artist and Starkwhite

The Auckland-based artist Seung Yul Oh has long been interested in activating space, playing with boundaries and the movement of energy.

Oh has an instantly recognisable and idiosyncratic practice that encompasses painting, installation, sculpture, video, and performance art. Combining elements of East Asian pop culture with ironic references to ‘highbrow’ Western art history, he is well known for whimsical works that toy with scale and exist somewhere between spectacle and participation.

Seung’s more formal painting practice is rooted in the post-war Korean tradition of Tansaekhwa (Dansaekhwa).

While literally meaning ‘monochrome painting’, Tansaekhwa emphasises the meditative aspect of creating art, focussing on growth and layering rather than ‘emptiness’. Seung’s reductionist and geometric compositions allow for both vivid contrast and subtle nuance. He says: “I’m interested in the relationship between colours, their tension or rhythm. There’s uncertainty and dialogue when these colours are joined”.

Intriguingly the artist also sees his colour selections as creating time and space. Juxtaposing unusual combinations and tonal contrasts, he calculates their effects, “trying to reach a place of time through colour.” Some colours allow time to linger longer or deeper. I may simply feel more with certain colours, remembering a moment or connecting to other unknown time.”

This painting practice adheres to a formative and often minimalistic structure. It is characterised by its deliberate emphasis on the periphery, extending the viewer's gaze towards the outer regions of the canvas. By deftly adjusting perspective and equilibrium, it provides a distinctive examination of spatial dynamics and visual boundaries, challenging the constraints of traditional artistic conventions to draw attention the frequently neglected zones on the canvas.

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Born in 1981 in Korea, Seung Yul Oh is now based and works in Tāmaki Makaurau | Auckland, Aotearoa | New Zealand. He received his B.F.A. and M.F.A. degrees from Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Oh has held solo exhibitions at the ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2023, 2020); Starkwhite, Auckland (2022); Xinchang Culture Center, Shanghai (2018); Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga (2016); Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery, Auckland (2015); Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland (2014); Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2013) and others. Participated in numerous group exhibitions those held at the Yavuz Gallery, Sydney (2020); ONE AND J. Gallery, Seoul (2020, 2019); Whistle, Seoul (2018); Lille 3000, Lille (2015); APMA (Amorepacific Museum of art), Jeju (2014); City Gallery Wellington, Wellington (2014) and many more. Oh also has proceeded with public art works commissioned by Cordis Hotel, Auckland (2022); Richmond Library, Nelson (2018); SCAPE Public Art, Arts Center, Christchurch (2017); Auckland Art Gallery, Auckland (2014); Amore Pacific Korea, Jeju (2014) and others. His works are in the permanent collections of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand; Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand; The New Dowse Museum, New Zealand; National Gallery of Victoria, Australia; Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, New Zealand; Amorepacific Museum of Art Project, Jeju, Korea and others.

In 2013 he was recipient of the SEMA Nanji Residency in Seoul and in 2011 was recipient of the Harriet Friedlander New York Residency, supported by the Arts Foundation of New Zealand.