Jang Woosuk, currently living and working in Korea, pursues the image characteristics of post-history. Considering the history of art, Jang invented a technique called “stamp painting”. His works are results of his contemplation on ways contemporary images can harmonize with the nature of oil painting.
He creates highly stereotypical images pertaining closely to the current world in large quantities. He takes images such as a cute puppy, a hand gun that may symbolize a certain sexual fantasy, an octopus which symbolizes conglomerate chaebol, and other images that remind one of the powers of capital, and turns them into stamped images. The way he arranges these images is different from any technique found in the arts of the Renaissance or the Baroque, nor reminiscent of the surface of Impressionism or Pop-art. The images are completely jumbled as if placed in a centrifugal separator or a salad bowl creating “Chaosmos” - the co-existence of chaos and order.
To accentuate the ongoing challenges of the contemporary world to extricate oneself from the old notion of West-oriented, male-chauvinistic, Eurocentric narratives, Jang combines the oriental tradition of stamp engraving and the Western tradition of brush painting. By creating a collage without a center and specific pattern, Jang emphasizes the beauty of equalitarianism in the resulting image. Artificial objects and natural elements are mixed and barriers among countries are dismantled. Rather than having one central theme, Jang’s art presents the East and the West, chaos, and order peacefully coexisting, which he believes is the direction and value the humanity of the 21st century must pursue.
Jang Woosuk has been invited to various solo exhibitions, including "Burn Burn Burn" Pyo Gallery in Seoul Korea, "Tranquil State" the LOFT 203 in Seoul, Korea, and "Plot in Arnhem" in Arnhem Netherlands to name a few. Jang's works are invited to more than forty-five group exhibitions including "The Rabbit Stance" at Sejong Museum for Art in Seoul, Korea; "Art Now Korea" INTERMEDIAE in Madrid, Spain; and "Infinite Grace" at Waterfall Gallery in New York, USA. Jang was selected to participate in residences such as Paju Book City Art Platform, Stichting Atelierbeheer Slak, Netherlands, and The National Art Studio in Korea.
