Skip to main content
1
/upload/artists/cdf0b48b8526de23bd2c4f3823f481cb.jpg

Michael Joo

American-Korean, 1966

Biography

Michael Joo

  • Born in 1966, Ithaca, US
    Lives and works in New York, US

Education

  • 1991      M.F.A. in Yale School of Art, Yale University, New Haven, US
    1989      B.F.A. in Washington University, St Louis, US

Selected Solo Exhibitions

  • 2024
    Soft Skills and Underground Whispers, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea

    2021
    On The Passage..., CLEA RSKY, Brooklyn, NY, US
    Michael Joo: Sensory Meridian, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, US

    2019
    Project: Michael Joo, Kavi Gupta, Chicago, US

    2018
    Art Sonje Project #4: Michael Joo – Verfremdungseffekt, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea
    Simultaneity Biases, Blain | Southern, Berlin, Germany

    2017
    Single Breath Transfer, Kukje Gallery, Seoul, Korea
    Uniformitarian Assumptions, Galleria Carles Taché, Barcelona, Spain
    Michael Joo: 7 Sins, Carolina Nitsch Project Room, New York, US

    2016
    Barrier Island, SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, US
    Perspectives: Michael Joo, Smithsonian Freer | Sackler Museum, Washington, D.C., US
    Radiohalo, Blain | Southern, London, UK

    2014
    Suture, The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, US
    Transparency Engine, SCAD Moot Gallery, Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
    Doppelganger, Cass Sculpture Foundation, Goodwood, UK
    Drift (Bronx), The Bronx Museum of Arts, New York, US
    Drift, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, US

    2013
    Michael Joo, M Building, Miami Beach, US

    2012
    Exit from the House of Being, Blain | Southern, London, UK

    2010
    Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Venison, Berlin, Germany (with Damien Hirst)
    Galleria Marabini, Bologna, Italy

    2009
    Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    Bodhi Obfuscatus (Allegiance), Chelsea Art Museum, New York, US

    2008
    Circannual Rhythm, Anchorage Museum, Anchorage, Alaska
    PKM Gallery, Seoul, Korea

    2006
    Michael Joo, Rodin Gallery (Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art), Seoul, Korea

    2005
    Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    Bodhi Obfuscatus (Space-Baby), Asia Society, New York, US
    Still Lives, The Bohen Foundation, New York, US

    2004
    Michael Joo, Palm Beach Institute for Contemporary Art, Lake Worth, US

    2003
    Michael Joo, MIT List Visual Art Center, Cambridge, US

    2002
    Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    Curti/Gambuzzi & Co., Milan, Italy
    PKM Gallery, Seoul, Korea

    2001
    49th Venice Biennale, South Korean Pavilion, Venice, Italy (with Do-Ho Suh)

    1999
    Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US

    1998
    White Cube, London, UK

    1997
    Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US

    1996
    Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US

    1995
    Crash, Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London, UK
    Galerie Anne de Villepoix, Paris, France
    Nature vs. Nature at the Glass Ceiling, Stedelijk Museum Bureau, Amsterdam, The Netherlands (with Christiaan Bastiaans)
    Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US

    1994
    Salt Transfer Cycle, Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, in collaboration with Petzel/Borgmann Gallery, New York, US

    1992
    The Artifice of Expenditure, Nordanstad-Skarstedt Gallery, New York, US

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 2024
    Shifting Landscapes
    , Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US 
    Fugitive Land, Silverlens, New York, US  
    Daejeon Art and Science Biennale Spin Off: Magnum Opus, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea 
    Breath(e): Toward Climate and Social Justice, Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, US 
    Every Island is a Mountain, Palazzo Malta, Venice, Italy
    Suppose You Are Not, Arter, Istanbul, Turkey

    2023
    The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, USA
    INTROVERSE: ALLEGORY TODAY, 80 WSE, New York, US

    2022
    Hawai‘i Triennial 2022, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i, US
    Disruption: Works from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection, Denver Art Museum, Colorado, US

    2021
    Glasstress. Window to the Future, The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia
    Breaking the Waves, chi K11 art museum, Shanghai, China
    Mirror / Mirror. Reflect Yourself!, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort, Netherlands 
    The Slipstream: Reflection, Resilience, and Resistance in the Art of Our Time, Brooklyn Museum, NY, US

    2020
    The Art of Collecting, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Los Angeles, US

    2019
    If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
    Reason Gives No Answers: Selected Works from the Collection, Newport Street Gallery, London, UK

    2018
    Second Edition of The Sculpture Park at Madhavendra Palace, Jaipur, India
    Der Duft der Bilder Werke der colección olor VISUAL, Barcelona, Kunst- und Kulturstiftung Opelvillen Rüsselsheim, Germany
    Real DMZ Project, Cheorwon, Korea
    NGORONGOROLehderstrasse 34, Berlin, Germany

    2017
    Ark, Chester Cathedral, UK
    Emanation 2017: An Invitational Contemporary Art Exhibit, Wheaton Arts and Cultural Centre, Millville, US
    Glasstress, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, US
    Vitreous Bodies: Assembled Visions in Glass, Stephen D. Paine Galleries, Massachusetts College of art and Design, Boston, US
    Naturalia, curated by Danny Moynihan, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US

    2016
    Anyang Public Art Project, Anyang, Korea
    30 Years 1986-2016: As the Moon Waxes and Wanes, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, Korea
    Still (the) Barbarians, curated by Koyo Kouoh, EVA International Biennale 2016, Limerick, Ireland
    Force of Nature, curated by James Putnam, GalerieValérie Bach, Brussels, Belgium

    2015
    Antoine d'Agata, Bosco Sodi, Cornelia Parker, Javier Pérez, Keith Tyson, Michael Joo, Sean Scully and Tony Cragg, Galeria Carles Taché, Barcelona, Spain
    Seoul, Vite, Vite!, curated by Jean-Max Colard, as part of Lille3000, Euralille, France
    America Is Hard To See, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US
    Glasstress 2015, Palazzo Franchetti, Venice, Italy
    Sharjah Biennial 12: The past, the present, the possible, Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah, UAE

    2014
    Metaphysical, Mimmo Scognamiglio Gallery, Milan, Italy
    The Space Where I Am, Blain | Southern, London, UK
    Blood Flames, Paul Kasmin Gallery, New York, US
    On the Blue Shore of Silence, Tracey Williams Gallery, New York, US
    Global City, Surreal City, IVAM, Valencia, Spain

    2013
    White Light/White Heat, Wallace Collection, London, UK
    Amor Fati, Pioneer Works, Brooklyn, New York, US
    Come Together: Surviving Sandy, curated by Phong Bui, Industry City, Brooklyn, US
    Indivisible, Art Basel Unlimited, Organized by Kukje Gallery, Basel, Switzerland
    Vivere, Paddle8, New York, US
    Glasstress 2013, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, Italy

    2012
    Freedom Not Genius: Works from Damien Hirst’s Murderme Collection, curated by Elena Geuna, Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin, Italy; Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, Russia
    Roundtable, 9th Gwangju Biennale 2012, Gwangju, Korea
    Sculptor’s Drawings and Works on Paper, Pangolin London, London, UK
    Glasstrees New York, Museum of Art and Design, New York, US
    Transforming Minds: Buddhism in Art, works from the Rockefeller Collection of Asian Art, Asia Society Gallery, Hong Kong

    2011
    Surreal versus Surrealism in Contemporary Art, Institut Valencià d'Art Modern (IVAM), Valencia, Spain
    Best of Silver: Selected Sculptures in Silver. Pangolin, London, UK
    Glasstress 2011, Palazzo Cavalli Franchetti, Venice, Italy

    2010
    The Infinite Starburst of Your Cold Dark Eyes, PKM Gallery, Seoul, Korea
    Dirty Kunst, Seventeen Gallery, London, UK

    2009
    NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, Miami Art Museum, Miami, US
    Incarnational Aesthetics, New York Center for Art & Media Studies (NYCAMS), New York, US
    Faces & FactsKorean Contemporary Art in New York, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US

    2008
    Friends and Family, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    NeoHooDoo: Art of a Forgotten Faith, The Menil Collection, Houston; MoMA PS1, New York, US
    Re-imagining Asia, Haus der Kulturen, Berlin, Germany
    Focus: The Figure (Art form the Logan Collection), Denver Art Museum, Denver, US

    2007
    New York States of Mind, Queens Museum of Art, New York, US
    Triennale Bovisa: Timer 01, Milan, Italy
    Post Object, Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    2006
    In The Darkest Hour There Will Be Light, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
    The Bong Show, Leslie Tonkonow Artworks + Projects, New York, US
    Postcards From The Edge, Sikkema Jenkins & Co., New York, US
    6th Gwangju Biennale 2006, Gwangju, Korea
    Eretica, Palazzo Sant’ Anna, Palermo, Italy
    Flux Factory, Lennon Weinberg Gallery, New York, US
    Comunicato Stampo, Curti/Gambuzzi & Co., Milan, Italy
    Implosion!, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    RADAR: Selections From The Collection of Vicki and Kent Logan, Denver Art Museum, Denver, US
    Wallin vs Joo, Galleri Ping-Pong, Malmö, Sweden

    2005
    Artwalk NY, Sotheby’s, New York, US
    e-Flux Video Rental, The Moore Space, Miami, US
    Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, US
    Monuments For The US, CCA Wattis Institute For Contemporary Arts, San Francisco; White Columns, New York, US
    Postcards From The Edge, Robert Miller Gallery, New York, US
    This Must Be The Place, Center For Curatorial Studies, Bard College, Annandale-On-Hudson, US
    In The Darkest Hour There Will Be Light, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK

    2004
    D.u.m.b.o. Short Film and Video Festival, Brooklyn, US
    Art Basel 04 (film/video), Basel, Switzerland
    Black Belt, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, US
    f#@k perfection, Vertex List, Brooklyn, US
    Field, curated by Alyson Baker, Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, US
    Incognito, Santa Monica Museum of Art, Santa Monica, US
    Needful Things: Recent Multiples, Cleveland Museum, Cleveland, US
    Postcards From the Edge, Brent Sikkema Gallery, New York, US
    Standing on a Bridge, Arario Gallery, Seoul, Korea
    Video Program, Shore Institute of Contemporary Art, Long Beach, US

    2003
    Alumni Show, Center for the Arts at Wesleyan University, Middletown, US
    Black Belt, The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, US
    Commodification of Buddhism, The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, US
    Fresh Talk Revisited, A/P/A Studies Gallery; New York University, New York, US
    Full Frontal, Contemporary Asian Artists from the Logan Collection, Denver Art Museum, Denver, US
    Paradise/Paradox, Castle Gallery, The College of New Rochelle, New Rochelle, US
    5: Art Sonje Collection Show, Art Sonje Center, Seoul, Korea

    2002
    Black Mariah Film Festival, Jersey City, US
    It's Unfair!, Museum de Paviljoens, Almere, The Netherlands
    Manifeste, oder: Ergriffenheit–was ist das?, Galerie Daniel Blau, Munich, Germany
    The Mind is a Horse, Bloomberg Space, London, UK

    2001
    A Contemporary Cabinet of Curiosities, Selections from the Vicki and Kent Logan Collection, California College of Arts and Crafts, Oakland, US
    I Love (benefit exhibition), Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    Translated Acts, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, Germany; Queens Museum of Art, New York, US

    2000
    The Whitney Biennale, New York, US
    Drawings 2000, Barbara Gladstone Gallery, New York, US
    Korean Embassy, New York, US
    Juvenilia, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, US
    Koreamericakorea, Art sonje Center, Seoul; Sonje Museum, Kyungju, Korea
    The Korean War and American Art: Fifty Years Later, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, US
    Media_City Seoul 2000, National Historical Museum, Seoul, Korea
    Psycho, Art and Anatomy, Anne Faggianto Fine Art, London, UK
    Whitney Biennial 2000, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US

    1998
    Matthew McCaslin, Susan Etkin, Michael Joo, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, US
    Nine International Artists at Wanås, Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden
    Selections from the Permanent Collection, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US

    1997
    2nd Johannesburg Biennial 1997, Museum of Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
    Art Club Berlin, Berlin, Germany
    Art in the Anchorage, Creative Time, Brooklyn Bridge Anchorage, Brooklyn, US
    Group Show: Painting, Photography, Drawing, Anton Kern Gallery, New York, US
    Techno-Seduction, Cooper Union School of Art, New York, US
    Transmission, L´Ecole des Beaux Arts Galerie, Paris, France

    1996
    Against, Anthony D'Offay Gallery, London, UK
    The Damien Hirst Collection, Quo Vadis, London, UK
    Joo, Sheward & White, Wigram, The Post Office, London, UK
    Patrick Painter Editions, Bloom Gallery, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    1995
    La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast), Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
    Better Living Through Chemistry, Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, US
    Configura 2: Dialog der Kulturen, Erfurt, Germany
    Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju Contemporary Museum, Gwangju, Korea
    Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, US
    Portalen, Copenhagen, Denmark
    Thomas Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US

    1994
    Institute of Cultural Anxiety, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK
    Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
    Nordic Arts Centre, Helsinki, Finland; Kunstverein, Hannover, Germany
    What Is in Your Mind?, Tekniska Museet, Stockholm, Sweden

    1993
    Across the Pacific, Queens Museum of Art, Queens, US
    Aperto-93, 45th Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy
    Changing I: Dense Cities, Shedhalle, Zurich, Switzerland
    The Final Frontier, New Museum for Contemporary Art, New York, US
    Galerie Max Hetzler, Cologne, Germany
    In Out of the Cold, Center for the Arts at Yerba Buena, San Francisco, US
    Nordanstad Gallery, New York, US (with Rachel Berwick)
    Recent Acquisitions, Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
    Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany

    1992
    Galerie Metropol, Vienna, Austria
    Mimique, Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, US
    Unfair, Nordanstad Gallery at Balloni Halle, Cologne, Germany

    1988
    Demolition Daze, exhibition/auction, Rifle Sport Gallery, Minneapolis, US

Selected Awards

  • 2012
    Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship Program, Washington D.C., US

    2006
    United States Artists Fellowship, US
    Grand Prize, 6th Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju,  Korea (with co-recipient Song Dong)
    Acadia Summer Arts Program, Mt. Desert, Main, US

    2003
    American Center Foundation Grant, US

    2002
    LEF Foundation Grant, US

    2001
    Warhol Foundation Grant, US

    2000
    Joan Mitchell Foundation Painters’ and Sculptors’ Grant, US

    1998
    John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, US
    International Artists Studio Program in Sweden (IASPIS), Stockholm, Sweden

    1996 – 1997
    Delfina Studio Trust, London, UK

    1995
    Royal Academy of Art, Stockholm, Sweden

    1994
    Royal Academy of Art, Copenhagen, Denmark

    1990
    Cité International Des Arts, Paris, France

Selected Public and Private Collections

  • Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
    Brooklyn Museum, New York, US
    Burger Collection, Hong Kong
    Denver Art Museum, Denver, US
    Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, US
    FNAC (Foundation National d’Art Contemporain), Paris, France
    Guggenheim Museum, New York, US
    Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, US
    Henry Art Gallery, Seattle, US
    Hiscox Collection, London, UK
    M+, Kowloon, Hong Kong
    MIT List Visual Arts Center, Cambridge, US
    Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
    Museum of Modern Art, New York, US
    Samsung Centre for Art and Culture, Seoul, Korea
    Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia, US
    Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Tel Aviv, Israel
    The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, US
    The Israel Museum, Jerusalem, Israel
    The Wanås Foundation, Knislinge, Sweden
    UCLA Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, US
    Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, US
    Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, US

Works

Publications

Shop now
Michael Joo: Single Breath Transfer
Michael Joo: Single Breath Transfer

News

Selected Press

2024-10-18 파이낸셜뉴스
2021-05-03 SuperRare Editorial
2018-01-00 월간미술
2018-01-00 Noblesse
2018-01-00 AVENUEL
2017-12-20 ArtAsiaPacific
2017-12-13 The Korea Times
2017-12-13 국민일보
2017-12-01 매일경제
2017-12-00 Art World China
2017-12-00 PUBLIC ART
2017-12-00 ArtReview Asia
2017-11-00 GalleriesNow.net
2016-10-20 The Korea Times
2015-09-00 artnow
2015-09-00 art in ASIA
2015-08-00 Public Art
2015-07-03 ArtAsiaPacific
2015-07-00 Art in Culture
2015-06-06 Bloomsberg
2015-05-00 ArtAsiaPacific
2015-05-00 Public Art
2015-04-00 BAZAARART
2015-03-09 ArtAsiaPacific
2015-03-00 Universes in Universe
2015-01-00 PUBLIC ART
2015-00-00 Beaux Arts editions RENAISSANCE
2014-10-00 Public Art
2014-09-00 Art In Culture
2014-07-00 article
2014-06-00 ArtReview Asia
2013-08-06 코리아타임즈
2010-06-03 Artforum
실체와 허구 , 공간과 사물의 연결   pdf 파이낸셜뉴스
The Future of Cultural Memory: The Warburg Institute Today   pdf Phillips
Interview with Michael Joo: Exploring Paradoxes   pdf SuperRare Editorial
Michael Joo Amplifies the Invisible at Kavi Gupta   pdf OCULA
What Would The World Look Like If Humans Vanished? A New Shanghai Exhibition Imagines The Possibilities   pdf Artnet news
마이클 주의 예술적 관계로   pdf Interiors
마이클 주 개인전   pdf 월간미술
MICHAEL JOO: 이것은 사물이 아니라 ‘텍스트’다   pdf Art in Culture
마이클 주의 독특한 시선   pdf Noblesse
Art & Design Now   pdf AVENUEL
SINGLE BREATH TRANSFER: MICHAEL JOO   pdf ArtAsiaPacific
Joo transforms breath into artwork   pdf The Korea Times
이번 주말 여기 어때요?   pdf 국민일보
인간의 숨결은 어떤 모양일까… 찰나의 날숨을 담다   pdf 한국일보
11/30-12/31 韓國 Kukje Gallery [Michael Joo: 單次呼吸轉移]   pdf Chinese Contemporary Art News
독도 폐기물·비무장지대 두루미, 예술이 되다   pdf 한국경제
분노가 칼로리로, 날숨이 조형물로…'마이클 주' 개인전   pdf 머니투데이
숨결이 조각이 될 때   pdf 매일경제
Michael Joo's Polyphonic Narrative   pdf Art World China
Art blog <Single Breath Transfer>   pdf PUBLIC ART
Michael Joo   pdf ArtReview Asia
2만2574km 여행 끝에 현대미술 작품된 독도사는 갯강구   pdf News1
우리가 내쉬는 숨은 어떤 형태일까…마이클 주 개인전   pdf 연합뉴스
Michael Joo sees Dokdo identity in state of constant flux   pdf Yonhap News Agency
사람의 날숨, 유리조각에 담았다...마이클 주 10년만의 개인전   pdf Newsis
국제갤러리, 올해 마무리 전시로 마이클 주 작품 선보여   pdf cnb Journal
마이클 주 "독도 배경 작품, 정치적 맥락 없어…지정학적·생태학적 관점으로 봐달라"   pdf 뉴스핌
[VR현장] 독도부터 DMZ까지…마이클 주 개인전   pdf 연합뉴스
Michael Joo: Single Breath Transfer   pdf GalleriesNow.net
Public art invades Anyang   pdf The Korea Times
Michael Joo: ‘I was taken by the fact that there was a space that was inaccessible but real’   pdf Studio International
 Meditations on migration: Michael Joo at the Smithsonian   pdf APOLLO
스튜디오와 쇼룸 사이   pdf artnow
Art Forum in Desert   pdf art in ASIA
Brilliant Ideas Episode #3   pdf Public Art
Michael Joo on Kim Beom   pdf ArtAsiaPacific
사막의 예술 공론마당   pdf Art in Culture
Brilliant Ideas Episode #3: 마이클주   pdf Hyundai
Brilliant Ideas: Artist Michael Joo   pdf Bloomsberg
현대차, 블룸버그와 함께 예술TV프로그램 제작   pdf 머니투데이
Sharjah Biennial 12   pdf ArtAsiaPacific
Bloomberg Brilliant Ideas   pdf Public Art
[60 Korean Artists In the World's Biennales] Michael Joo   pdf Public Art
Talking about the quitely fascinating 12th Sharjah Biennial   pdf Mada Masr
Sharjah is the possible   pdf BAZAARART
Wind, Wüste, Sonne – Zeitreisen in Sharjah   pdf Kunstforum
Field Trip:Sharjah Biennial 12   pdf ArtAsiaPacific
Sharjah Biennial 12   pdf Universes in Universe
Cover Artist 100: Michael Joo   pdf PUBLIC ART
PORTFOLIO SEOUL - MICHAEL JOO   pdf Beaux Arts editions RENAISSANCE
광주비엔날레를 불태우라   pdf Public Art
1995-2014 GWANGJU BIENNALE   pdf Art In Culture
THE 10th GWANGJU BIENNALE    pdf article
제3의 관점, 마이클 주   pdf HEREN
Michael Joo, Through the looking glass   pdf ArtReview Asia
홍콩서 열리는 在美 한인 2세 설치작가 마이클 주 개인전   pdf 동아일보
Grasping the context   pdf 코리아타임즈
DAMIEN HIRST AND MICHAEL JOO   pdf Artforum