Hwajin Oh
Mixed media sculptor
Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Recommended by Jaeyoung Kang
When fiction meets fibre
- Hwajin expands fibre art into a mixed media practice of painting, sculpture, installation and design
- In her body of work, thought and material are deeply interconnected
- She writes freeform fiction to serve as the foundation for her visual art
Working from a foundation in fibre art, Hwajin Oh expands her practice far beyond material boundaries, moving between painting, sculpture, installation and design. Trained in textile art at Hongik University, she developed her own methodology through studio practice and self-directed research rather than under a single master. Central to Hwajin’s work is the notion of individual culture, which defines culture not as a collective national expression, but as the distilled output of an individual’s mind, experiences and creative impulses. “Rather than treating disciplines as separate fields, I see them as extensions of the same mental and creative process,” she says. “I continuously translate products of consciousness into visual and spatial forms.”
INTERVIEW
Aesthetic completion, stable center of gravity, installation stability and surface finishing are important, but I prioritise my mindset above all. With years of technical experience, I find that courage, decisive judgment and momentary choices have the greatest impact on the final piece.
I seek inspiration from within. When developing ideas, I note down spontaneous words or sentences. Since 2021, I have expanded this practice into writing freeform fiction, which serves as the foundation for my visual pieces. The process also works in reverse, generating a continuous creative cycle.
I hope viewers do not end their experience with the work itself, but instead remain engaged with it longer. I want them to be curious about the worldview behind the piece, continuously considering the inner world that shapes its maker.
Contemporary Korean craft and art are very diverse. The field actively absorbs both traditional Korean sensibilities and rapidly incoming global influences, constantly seeking to build something new. It is an evolving hybrid landscape shaped by experimentation, speed and cross-disciplinary fusion.
Hwajin Oh
Mixed media sculptor
Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
Recommended by Jaeyoung Kang
ADDRESS
Address upon request, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea
AVAILABILITY
By appointment only
LANGUAGES
Korean, English
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