UM Tai-Jung: World Worlds: Solo Exhibition

ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL presents a solo exhibition by sculptor UM Tai-Jung (b. 1938) titled World Worlds from Wednesday, June 18 to Saturday, August 2, 2025. This exhibition showcases a total of 27 works of UM's rarely exhibited sculptures from the 1970s, as well as recent and new sculptures, paintings, and drawings—offering a comprehensive exploration of UM's artistic vision and philosophy.

 

UM Tai-Jung’s artistic practice explores the existence of things as living structures rather than fixed forms, where objects and humans, time and space, constantly intersect within a space of inherent order. Engaging with the physical properties of metals such as steel, copper, and aluminum, he embeds within them layers of time, spirituality, and ontological depth. Drawn to the materiality of steel, UM initially presented intense steel sculptures, later shifting his focus to copper, bronze, and aluminum, delving into sculptural expressions of temporal and philosophical dimensions. UM's works evoke poetic and meditative spaces, embodying a philosophical vision that transcends formal simplicity to open up entire worlds—spaces where humans may dwell. His practice reflects an Eastern philosophical outlook, contemplating traditional views of nature and cosmology, and achieving a profound harmony between the material and the spiritual.

 

UM Tai-Jung is a leading figure of the first generation of contemporary abstract sculpture in Korea and has pursued a career in the field of formative arts for over six decades since the early 1960s. After graduating from the Department of Sculpture at Seoul National University’s College of Fine Arts, he deepened his theoretical and practical understanding of sculpture at Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London. From 1981 to 2004, he served as a professor in the Department of Sculpture at Seoul National University, establishing a unique sculptural practice centered on metal sculpture. He has received numerous awards, including the Prime Minister’s Prize at the 16th National Art Exhibition of Korea (1967), the Grand Prize at the Korea Art Awards (1971), the Kim Sejoong Sculpture Award (1989), and the Lee Mireuk Award (2012). UM has held major solo exhibitions at institutions including the Georg Kolbe Museum (Berlin, Germany, 2005), Sungkok Art Museum (Seoul, 2009), ARARIO GALLERY (Seoul and Cheonan, 2019), and ARARIO MUSEUM in SPACE (Seoul, 2022). He has also participated in several group exhibitions at major Korean art institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, and Soma Museum of Art. Internationally, he has presented works at the São Paulo Biennale (Brazil, 1973, 1975) and Frieze Sculpture London (UK, 2019), and his sculptures are permanently installed in prominent public sites including Seoul Olympic Park (Korea, 1988), Dubrova Sculpture Park (Croatia, 1990), Incheon International Airport (Korea, 2002), and the Chancellery in Berlin (Germany, 2002). His works are housed in the collections of major Korean institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Leeum Museum of Art, and ARARIO MUSEUM.