OK SEUNGCHEOL

  OK Seungcheol (b. 1988) interestingly deals with the issues of originality and uniqueness in the context of post-digital or internet art. His characteristic original work, made by using a computer as his primary tool, is a vector image. It is an output on a unique platform in various media and formats such as sculpture, painting, and video. Moreover, the artist transforms the so-reproduced digital image again into a regular form of painting, sculpture, and video work. In this regard, the process of Seungcheol Ok's work itself, as Jean McHugh says, re-contextualizes the customs of art with the customs of the Internet- drawing forth several questions about the requirements of contemporary art. OK Seungcheol's works not only explore shifts in perspective but also tend to depict the essence itself with subtle variations. These differences are created in a manner similar to a character creation system in video games, where only specific elements-such as hair or skin color-are altered. In fact, his work Irochi appears to reference trophy Pokémon, an extremely rare phenomenon in games like Pokémon. It represents a mutation that can only be produced within a system meticulously structured to fit within memory constraints-maintaining the same perspective, the same movement, and the same character while introducing minimal but significant alterations.

  OK Seungcheol lives and works in Seoul. He has held solo exhibitions including Planarian(PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO, Tokyo, 2024), CAMOUFLAGE(TUESDAY TO FRIDAY, Valencia, 2024), TROPHY(KICHE, Seoul, 2023), 2022 Art Sonje Project #2: Create Outlines(Art Sonje Center, Seoul, 2022), JPEG SUPPLY(KICHE, Seoul, 2020) and UN ORIGINAL(KICHE, Seoul, 2018). The artist has staged various group exhibitions such as Non-Newtonian Fluid(CYLINDER TWO, Seoul, 2024), Smooth Stone Field 2(Schema Art Museum, Cheongju, 2023), DMZ Exhibition: Checkpoint(DMZ Paju, Paju, 2023), Spirals, Loops, Mutants(K11 Shanghai, Shanghai, 2023), Linked(Gallery Func, Shanghai, 2022), Aftereffect(Nook Gallery, Seoul, 2022), Trauma: Shooting the Pulitzer + 15minutes (Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, 2021), The Promised Land at The Great Collection (Seoul, 2021), IRL at Unit London (London, 2020), Yes/No/Like/Dislike/Love/Hate/Reply/Share: The Portrait of Korean Pop Culture 2000-2020 at Art Delight (Seoul, 2020), Pop/Corn at the Daegu Museum of Art (Daegu, 2019) and Triangular Zone at Platform L Contemporary Art Center (Seoul, 2019).

  OK Seungcheol (b. 1988) has been dealing with the issue of originality from the perspective of the post-digital era. Using digital images as originals, he prints and shares them in traditional media such as painting and sculpture, as well as across the boundaries of reality and virtuality, art and non-art, and emphasizes the irony of the intersection of light (digital originals) and heavy (artworks) images. By emphasizing the process by which images are not fixed in a single format but interact within and outside of it, materializing into various forms and textures, and the contradiction between the so-called lightness and seriousness of the printed envelope (contrasting a digital image that can be infinitely reproduced with an artwork that emphasizes uniqueness), Ok examines the meaning of originality from a new perspective. In addition to changing the point of view, Ok's works tend to depict the essence of the subject matter itself in a slightly different way, such as changing only a few elements such as the character's hair or skin color, similar to the principle of a character generator in a game. In fact, his work "Irochi" seems to refer to a trophy-pokémon that exists very rarely in games like Pokémon, where the same point of view, the same movements, and the same character are the only mutations that the developer can create within a system that is organized in memory.

  Seungchul Ok graduated from Chung-Ang University, Department of Western Painting. His solo exhibitions include 《PLANARIA》(PARCO MUSEUM TOKYO, Tokyo, 2024), 《CAMOUFLAGE》(TUESDAY TO FRIDAY, Valencia, 2024), 《TROPHY》(GIGE, Seoul, 2023), 《2022 Art Sunjae Project #2: Create Outlines" (Artsunjae Center, Seoul, 2022), JPEG SUPPLY (GIGE, Seoul, 2020), and UN ORIGINAL (GIGE, Seoul, 2018). His major group exhibitions include 《Non-Newtonian Fluid》(Cylinder 2, Seoul, 2024), 《Smooth Stone Field 2》(Shema Museum of Art, Cheongju, 2023), 《DMZ Exhibition: Checkpoints" (DMZ, Paju, 2023), 《Spirals, Loops, Mutants》 (K11, Shanghai, 2023), 《Linked》 (Funk Gallery, Shanghai, 2022), 《After Effect》 (Nook Gallery, Seoul, 2022), 《Trauma: Shooting the Pulitzer + 15minutes" (Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, 2021), "Land of Promise" (The Grit Collection, Seoul, 2021), IRL (Unit London, London, 2020), "Yes/No/Like/Dislike/Love/Hate/Comment/Share: Portraits of Korean Popular Culture 2000-2020" (Art Delight, Seoul, 2020), "Pop/Corn" (Daegu Museum of Art, Daegu, 2019), and "Triangular Realm" (Platform L Contemporary Art Center, Seoul, 2019).