Sooim Jeong's practice draws upon a wide spectrum of experiences, from the profound weight of tragic loss to mundane and seemingly trivial interactions with strangers. With a restrained and sensitive colour palette and minimal calligraphic brushstrokes, she constructs playful compositions. Jeong’s approach is informed learning traditional calligraphy as a teenager in Korea. Bringing together disparate fragments of scattered past and more recent memories, Jeong recomposes these into images within the confined space of the canvas.
Sooim Jeong (b.1983) is a London based Korean artist who completed her MA in Fine Art at Chelsea College of Arts in 2010 and a BA in Fine Art at Kookmin University, Seoul in 2007. She has exhibited widely including Unit 1 Gallery (2021), Royal Academy in London (2020), Mostyn in Llandudno (2019), Phoenix Gallery in Exeter (2017), SÍM Gallery in Reykjavík (2017), Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda (2016), Block 336 in London (2016), Interview Room 11 in Edinburgh (2014) and The Lightbox Museum in Woking (2014). Her work has been included in public and private collections worldwide. She has been shortlisted for the Mostyn Open 21 in 2019, the Exeter Contemporary Open in 2017 and also the Marmite Prize for Painting V in 2016. Recent residencies include Radical Residency at Unit1 Gallery Workshop in London (2019) and Sirius Art Centre Artist in Residence Programme in Cork (2018).
