Education
1997 – B.F.A. in Korean Painting, College of Fine Arts, Chung-Ang University, Korea
2002 – M.F.A. in Korean Painting, Graduate School, Chung-Ang University, Korea
2012 – Ph.D., Sungshin Women’s University, Korea


Solo Exhibitions

2022
Studio Kki Project / Reflective Ink Painting, Studio Kki Gallery, Paju, Korea
The Preview: WOO JONG TAEK, Studio Kki Gallery, Paju, Korea

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2021
“Muhaeng (無行)”, Kim Reeaa Gallery, Seoul, Korea

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2020
The Subtle Being of Timeless Beginning, BODE Project Space/Container, Gwangju, Korea

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2019
Qi and Tuning, Special Invitation Exhibition, Bamboo Collection, Seoul, Korea

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2018
Memory of Origin, Forum Kunst, Austria
Awakening of Nature/Human, Art House Doodream, Jeju, Korea

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2017
Memory of Origin, Bode Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany

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2015
Visible Force and Invisible Force, Bode Gallery, Daegu, Korea

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2014
Woo Jong Taek Painting Project: To Ask, LeeKak Museum of Art, Cheonan, Korea
Woo Jong Taek Painting Project: To Draw, GeumSan Gallery, Seoul, Korea

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2011
Flowers Bloom on a Dead Tree, Alternative Space Westwerk, Hamburg, Germany

 

Introduction
 

Woo Jong Taek paints Korean ink paintings rooted in the physical experience of nature. His “Reflective Ink” series seeks to uncover the origin—the inherent essence or form that may have existed before all things—positioned between the visible-but-unreal and the invisible-yet-real. In essence, his works serve as field records—a bodily practice and reflective process that revisits nature in its original form, lost to modern civilization.​

His practice of returning to the essence is not limited to painting but extends to life itself: building a studio in the mountains by hand, growing medicinal herbs, farming, and collecting ancient trees. These everyday actions constitute a long-term, holistic artistic project.

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“For me, art-making is a practice of nature and a grand life project.”
– From Woo Jong Taek’s Work Notes