Magazine "Sculpture" - March

Bookworms: A Conversation with Jukhee Kwon

by Robert Preece

Jukhee Kwon uses abandoned and discarded books to make extraordinary sculptures that frequently resemble cascading waterfalls. For her, each destroyed book—its pages meticulously cut into ribbons—takes on new life through the process of creation and re-creation. Her recent work, /fromthebooktothespace/, shifts its form from tree to book, from book to tree, creating a metaphor for the cyclical relationship of life and death, destruction and creation, nature and art. Born and raised in South Korea, Kwon received a BA in fine art from Chung-Ang University in Anseong, south of Seoul (2004), and an MA in book arts from Camberwell College of Arts, London (2011). Since 2012, she has lived and worked in Grottaferrata, a town to the southeast of Rome. Over the last few years, Kwon has exhibited at many different London venues, including La Scatola Gallery, Illustration Studio Space, Forman’s Smokehouse Gallery, GX Gallery, Hanmi Gallery, New Gallery, and Barge House Gallery. She has also shown her work in Brussels, Paris, and Anseong. In 2013–14, there was a solo exhibition of her new works at the October Gallery in Central London...see the entire article in the print version of March's Sculpture magazine. Red presence, 2013. Magazine paper and acrylic paint, 190 x 140 x 140 cm. Work installed at the former convent of San Bonaventura, Grottaferrata, Italy.