Originality & Identity

Eunsi Jo’s practice centers on the principles of “irresistible structures” and “resemblance,” exploring the order of the world that eludes human control. She begins with systems beyond human will—such as family, the food chain, and natural disasters—and contemplates the relationships between the individual and the community, the part and the whole, through the medium of painting.

In works like Dogs and Meteorites(2023) and Distressed Day(2023), Jo juxtaposes violence and cycles within natural and accidental events, exposing the inevitability embedded in the systems that govern human existence. Her inquiry soon expands toward the idea of “resemblance,” examining how different objects or phenomena can generate new meanings through formal or situational similarity.

As seen in The Providence of Nature(2023), the artist presents the cyclical order of life and death through repetitive structures such as the bird and the egg, the hunter and the prey. This reflects a worldview based not on linear time but on continuous circulation, inviting an interpretation of existence as a series of interdependent interactions.

Likewise, in Same Way(2023), opposing symbols—such as the volcano and the sprinkler, dinosaur bones and grass—are unified into a single continuous world through their resemblance. Jo focuses not on the boundary between opposing concepts but on the interconnected structure of the world—the “connected difference.”

This perspective expands into the theme of “the relationship between part and whole.” Works like Fake Tree and Honeycomb(2023) and A Distant Relative(2023) transcend the imaginary order of the canvas to establish tangible contact with the physical world. By dismantling the boundary between pictorial and real space, these works reveal Jo’s gradual evolution from introspective reflection toward a broader engagement with external relational systems.

Ultimately, her painting constitutes a visual philosophy that explores the forces of the world operating beyond anthropocentric order and the meaning of existence within it.

Style & Contents

Jo’s formal experimentation begins with compositional paintings that employ signs, diagrams, and symbols. Her canvases are intricately constructed like puzzles or codes, where each icon functions as a symbol containing its own logic. In The Providence of Nature(2023), a red curve hints at the order of events, while in Distressed Day(2023), the depicted tools symbolically suggest a narrative of violence. These pictorial devices form the core language of Jo’s painting, generating meaning through logical structures and associative connections rather than emotional expression.

Over time, she expands her medium from two-dimensional surfaces to spatial and sculptural formats. In Fake Tree and Honeycomb(2023), the wooden panel becomes both the support and the prototype of the depicted tree, while in A Distant Relative(2023), the panel, red thread, and water cup are physically connected, integrating image and object. Through such processes, painting transforms from a medium of representation into an “arena of events” mediating interaction with reality.

This experimental trajectory becomes more systematic in the 2024 series ‘Study of the Center.’ Using the physical tension between fabric, stainless steel, and weights, Jo visualizes the notions of balance and imbalance, center and periphery, exposing the relativity of both linguistic order and material systems.

Her 2025 solo exhibition 《TwinFlame》(YK Presents) extends the interplay of signs and symbols across the entire exhibition space. Elements such as waves, buckets, breakwaters, whirlpools, and triangles interweave into a network of relationships, and a linear narrative emerges through the viewer’s gaze.

In another solo exhibition of the same year, 《At the Edge of Atlas’s Shoulder》(GalleryMEME), she focuses on “affinities between images” and “relationships of misperception.” Works like Siblings Above and Siblings Below(2025) reveal multi-layered temporality and interpretive potential through variations within repeated forms, while Misunderstanding(2025) humorously exposes the instability of representation and self-recognition, visualizing the dissonance between image and reality.

Topography & Continuity

Eunsi Jo’s work presents a new possibility for “relational painting” in contemporary Korean art. Her practice constructs a structure of thought that traverses the boundaries between human and nonhuman, reality and the virtual, grounded in the natural principles of resemblance, repetition, and circulation.

By combining linguistic symbols with physical devices, Jo creates a fluid system where logic and sensation coexist, thereby expanding the grammar of painting. This shift redefines the essence of painting—from a “surface of images” to a “field of relationships.”

Rather than relying on complex theoretical discourse, Jo materializes her concepts through concrete, sensory scenes in which the viewer actively participates as part of the process of meaning-making. As seen in her solo exhibitions 《TwinFlame》 and 《At the Edge of Atlas’s Shoulder》, the viewer’s gaze and reasoning complete the narrative structure of her works, transforming painting into a “device for relational thought.”

Through this approach, Jo articulates themes such as modern identity, linguistic paradox, and natural cycles through a visual language that is both intuitive and logical.

Looking ahead, Jo’s artistic world is expected to expand further across the boundaries between painting and installation, symbol and object. Representing a generation that simultaneously contemplates physical and conceptual structures, she has established herself as an artist who translates the relational networks of the world into a new visual language.