The artist Gwon Osang got a reputation as a representative of ‘Photo-Sculpture’. In addition to the sculptor François Willème, who created the term ‘Photo-Sculpture’ in 1863, the artistic trials to combine 2-dimensional photography with 3-dimensional sculpture are found in artistic experiments of collaborating photography and sculpture in the 1960s and 1970s. However, Gwon Osang perfectly fused with the sculpture and photography as a focal point of the up-to-date genre, the artist Gwon had newly created. Thereby the expansion of the boundaries of contemporary art is to be continued.

Gwon Osang literally makes sculptures with photos. ‘Flatness’ and ‘lightness’ are the right expressions to explain the characters of the materials of the sculptures so that the clusters with photo pieces are shown as a whole. In the early period of the ‘Deodorant Type’, advocating the slight and sleek pieces of its feature, it was prone to focus on the photo mechanism. Afterwards, there exist the fundamentals through the series he produced. This redefined the meaning of conventional sculpture understanding (named ‘The Sculpture’) and asked about the relations between sculpture and spaces (named ‘New Structure’).

Thereafter the artist Gwon actively adopted carving methodology (named ‘relief’) or studied patterns of the basic notion of the sense of volume and mass (named ‘Mass Patterns’). Namely, the most important focal point is in ‘carving’, even though both photos and sculptures are crucial in his artworks.

“The fundamentals, I am totally into the story of ‘How human beings have been living by carving’.”

His representative works are shown like ‘Deodorant Type,’ ‘The Flat,’ ‘New Structure,’ ‘Relief’, ‘Mass Patterns,’ etc, which mostly emphasize formativeness used by downloaded images from the internet. These are in progress randomly, and growing by influencing in between series.

The thing for which Gwon Osang, as a modern carving sculptor, wants to make a voice is ‘NOW’ in the current era where everyone is living. The artist contemplates how many perspectives to read when designing a work, enlarging the narrative of objects and humans’ possibilities of carving and art in the current era.

C.V

- Selected Solo Exhibitions

2026  《SCULPTURE CENTER 3/4》, PS ROY, Seoul, Korea
2025  《Swirling over the Ridge》, Galerie Noir SONGZIO, Seoul, Korea
2024  《The Sculptural Report》, ARARIO MUSEUM TAPDONG CINEMA, Jeju, Korea
2023  《Seoul’s Glittering》, B the B Communication Lounge, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, Korea
2023  《AIR MASS: A Path of Wind》, Lotte Gallery AVENUEL Art Hall, Seoul, Korea
2022  《The Other Self》, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2022  《Still Life》, EVERYDAY MOOONDAY Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2022  《OUR SET: OURLABOUR X GWON OSANG》, Art Space Gwanggyo, Suwon Museum of Art, Suwon, Korea
2021  《Sequence》, TYPE, Seoul, Korea
2016  《Relief Relief》, Willing N Dealing, Seoul, Korea
2016  《The Sculpture》, ARARIO GALLERY Shanghai, Shanghai, China
2016  《The Art of the Image: New Sculpture》, Hermès, Sydney, Australia
2016  《Recontemporary》, Waterfall Gallery, New York, USA
2016  《New Structure and Relief》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2015  《The Pivots》, ARARIO MUSEUM TAPDONG CINEMA, Jeju, Korea
2015  《New Structure》, Okinawa Contemporary Art Center, Okinawa, Japan
2015  《New Structure》, Baik Art, Los Angeles, USA
2014  《Structure》, Perigee Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2014  《Osang Gwon》, JOYCE Paris, Paris, France
2014  《Osang Gwon: The Deodorant Type》, Statoil Art Programme, Statoil, Bærum, Norway
2013  《Osang Gwon》, Temenggong Artists-In-Residence, Singapore, Singapore
2013  《Postmodern Times》, HADA Contemporary, London, UK
2013  《Masspatterns, 13 S/S Collaboration Exhibition #03》, MANMADE WOOYOUNGMI, Seoul, Korea
2012  《Osang Gwon》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2011  《Adore》, Aando Fine Arts, Berlin, Germany
2011  《Sculpture》, Doosan Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2010  《Torso》, Gallery 2, Seoul, Korea
2010  《Deodorant Type》, Doosan Gallery, New York, USA
2009  《Deodorant Type》, ARARIO GALLERY New York, New York, USA
2008  《Deodorant Type: Sculpture by Osang Gwon》, Manchester Art Gallery, Manchester, UK
2007  《Osang Gwon》, ARARIO GALLERY Beijing, Beijing, China
2006  《Gwon, Osang, Union II》, London, UK
2006  《The Sculpture》, ARARIO GALLERY Cheonan, Cheonan, Korea
2005  《Deodorant Type & The Flat》, Andrew Shire Gallery & 4-F Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2001  《Deodorant Type》, Insa Art Space, The Korea Culture & Arts Foundation, Seoul, Korea
 

 
- Selected Group Exhibitions

2025  《Minibus》, Arko Art Center, Seoul, Korea
2024  《Carving in, Modeling out》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2024  《UNBOXING PROJECT 3: Maquette》, New Spring Project, Seoul, Korea
2023  《Ordinary People, Splendid History》, Gyeongnam Art Museum, Changwon, Korea
2023  《Borderless》, Ananti Culture Club, Busan, Korea
2023  《Romantic Irony》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2022  《Metal Fluid》, Park Tae-Joon Memorial Hall, Busan, Korea
2022  《Kim Bokjin and Korean Modern and Contemporary Sculptors》, Cheongju Museum of Art, Cheongju, Korea
2022  《Art & Industry》, Ulsan Art Museum, Ulsan, Korea
2022  《Hallyu! The Korean Wave》, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK
2022  《HiKR Art Museum Inaugural Exhibition》, HiKR Ground, Seoul, Korea
2022  《Kak》, Hite Collection, Seoul, Korea
2022  《Children’s Day 100th Anniversary Special Exhibition》, Hello Museum, Seoul, Korea
2022  《Another Asian Artist》, THE SHOPHOUSE, Tai Hang, Hong Kong
2022  《The Glitter Path》, Art Space Hohwa, Seoul, Korea
2022  《New Acquisitions》, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Pohang, Korea
2021  《Art Token: KARTZ Art Shapes the Future》, Nodeul Island, Seoul, Korea
2021  《Arcane》, Scene, Seoul, Korea
2021  《The Premiere》, Cheongdam A Lounge, Seoul, Korea
2021  《Texture House》, P.ARK, Busan, Korea
2021  《The Chronicle of Lost Time》, Seoul National University Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2020  《YES/NO/LIKE/DISLIKE/LOVE/HATE/REPLY/SHARE》, Art Delight, Seoul, Korea
2020  《The Guide to the Earth Life》, Koo House Museum, Yangpyeong, Korea
2020  《NO SPACE JUST A PLACE: Heterotopia》, Daelim Museum, Seoul, Korea
2020  《Remix》, Pohang Museum of Steel Art, Pohang, Korea
2019  《Furniture》, ARARIO MUSEUM in Space, Seoul, Korea
2019  《To the Moon with Snoopy》, Lotte Museum, Seoul, Korea
2019  《MOKA Triangle》, Hyundai Museum of Kid’s Books & Art, Pangyo, Korea
2019  《The Third Image》, Kim Chong Yung Museum, Seoul, Korea
2018  《Endless Column》, ARARIO GALLERY Ryse Hotel, Seoul, Korea
2018  《Post 88’》, Seoul Olympic Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2017  《Media Research: Tension and Relaxation》, Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
2017  《Card: The Cards Players》, Shanghai Gallery of Art, Shanghai, China
2017  《This Is a Museum of Contemporary Art: Everyone Is an Artist, Everything Is Art》, K Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
2016  《Jaguar XJ Rare Design Studio》, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, Korea
2015  《Tech 4 Change》, Vestfossen Kunstlaboratorium, Vestfossen, Norway
2015  《Uproarious, Heated, Inundated》, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
2014  《Pillars》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2014  《Tomorrow 2014 Part 2: Culture Print》, Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Seoul, Korea
2014  《Medium at Large》, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2014  《K-Pop: Korean Contemporary Art》, Taipei Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei, Taiwan
2011  《ARTISTS with ARARIO Part 1》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2011  《The Korean Miracle: A Cultural Evolution》, Asia House, London, UK
2011  《Embracing the Void》, HADA Contemporary, London, UK
2010  《Memories of Future》, Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2010  《Korean Eye: Fantastic Ordinary》, Saatchi Gallery, London, UK; The Arts House, Singapore; Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul; Korea Foundation Cultural Centre, Seoul
2010  《Roundabout: Conversations in Art from Around the Globe》, City Gallery Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
2010  《Man Ray’s Photography & His Heritage》, Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
2010  《New York Photo Festival 2010》, Smack Mellon, New York, USA
2010  《A POSITIVE VIEW》, Somerset House, London, UK
2010  《ARTISTS with ARARIO》, ARARIO GALLERY Seoul/Cheonan, Seoul/Cheonan, Korea
2009  《Manipulating Reality》, Centro di Cultura Contemporanea Strozzina, Florence, Italy
2008  《Youth Portraits》, Avanthay Contemporary, Zurich, Switzerland
2008  《Peppermint Candy: Contemporary Art from Korea》, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
 

Numerous other solo and group exhibitions



- Selected Awards

2013  Kim Se-Choong Sculpture Prize
2001  Photograph Critique Award 



- Selected Collections

Gwon Osang’s works are in the collections of not only national, public and private art museums in Korea, but also major art galleries abroad.

Major domestic collections include the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul, Korea), Leeum Samsung Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea), Seoul Museum of Art, Busan Museum of Art, Art Sonje Center, and Leeum, as well as major national and public art museums representing Korea. CI KIM, one of the collectors, also owns several works.

Overseas, prominent art galleries and private collectors such as David Roberts Art Foundation, The Zabludowicz Collection (London, UK), Burger Collection, Universal Music Group, and Singapore Museum own Gwon Osang’s works.