KOO Jiyoon

KOO Jiyoon’s (b.1982) works embody the time that passes in the city, depicting the condensed psychological landscape, which reflects on the ever-changing characteristics of urban chronology. The artist identifies the city and its buildings as biological organisms belonging to the structural concept of time. The artist, who observes and personifies the crumbling old buildings in and around Seoul, realizes the tragic fate of these buildings that will one day remain only as a distant memory, disappearing in the brutal order of the city, maintained by the constant cycle of destruction and creation. Therefore, the constant change of emotions, which mirrors the fluctuating characteristics of the city, are at the heart of KOO Jiyoon’s work. The artist captures the city’s desires and memories while reflecting on time and combines them into a psychological landscape where visual elements, such as colors and lines, mingle within the boundaries of the canvas. In particular, the unique and subtle aesthetic of KOO Jiyoon’s works arises from the coexistence of contrast between the new and the old, between the brushstrokes that are sharp and rough in places and thick and soft in others, and between the mixture of cloudy and vivid colors, providing yet another focal point in the abstract paintings.

KOO Jiyoon was born in Daegu, Korea, in 1982. She received her BFA in Fine Art from Korea National University of Arts in 2006 and from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2007, and earned her MFA in Studio Art from New York University in 2010. She has held solo exhibitions at ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2025; 2021), Gallery Purple (Namyangju, Korea, 2022), ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE (Seoul, Korea, 2018), Project Space Sarubia (Seoul, Korea, 2016) and more. She has participated in group exhibitions at Mimesis Art Museum (Paju, Korea, 2024), New Spring Project (Seoul, Korea, 2024), ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2024; 2021), ARARIO GALLERY CHEONAN (Cheonan, Korea, 2021; 2020), Doosan Gallery Seoul (Seoul, Korea, 2019; 2014), Soda Museum, Hwaseong (Korea, 2019), Hite Collection (Seoul, Korea, 2018), Zaha Museum (Seoul, Korea, 2018; 2015), Doosan Gallery New York (New York, US, 2010) and more. Her works are collected by ARARIO MUSEUM, Bank of Korea.