Jewyo Rhii (MFA '97) awarded the 2010 Yanghyun Prize

The Yanghyun Prize was created in 2008 following the wishes of the late Chairman Sooho Cho whose passion in art led to active promotion of various cultural activities with the ultimate goal of bringing Korean art to the world stage. While visiting major international galleries and museums, he expressed a disappointment for Korean exhibition rooms and their limited spaces or underrepresented displays. By bringing spotlight on the Korean art and its artists abroad, we hope to increase international recognition and nurture Korean artists in the future. The Yanghyun Foundation and the Yanghyun Prize promote globalization in arts by awarding artists not limited to Korean artists but including all talented international artists and their commendable works.

Jewyo Rhii introduced her works of art, which she produced for about 5 years from 1998, mainly in the form of books in which an environment of the birth of works and the gradual flow of time were revealed. She published three art books in which urgent efforts that a man makes to improve the physical and mental environment of the everyday life are revealed humorously in the form of photos, drawings and unique makings. Afterward, being interested in herself as an artist in non-retrospective nowness, coincidences that vary depending on the places, spontaneous events, and unfamiliar space and in the dynamics of each exhibition factor, Rhii engages in many exhibition activities. Her interest of other’s matter through the experience of her living abroad in many different cultures shows in the ephemeral objects with temporary materials and fast drawings that deal with the insecurity, resentment, deficiency and vulnerability in individual existence. Rhii uses none-finite installation method, expressing the manner of hesitation and the pendency in the exhibition. Her recent works are distinctly characterized as undisclosed stories arising from a unique relationship that the other person’s drifting life toward a particular fate has with the artist’s continuing life. Rhii was born in Seoul, Korea and studied at Ewha Woman's University in Seoul, University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Chelsea College of Art and Design in London and Rijks Akademie in Amsterdam. She currently lives and works in Seoul.

To see more of Jewyo's work and view the exhibitions that she has been featured in, visit http://oneartworld.com/artists/J/Jewyo+Rhii.html

To learn more about the Yanghyun Prize, visit http://www.yanghyunprize.org/YHP/en/about/prize.jsp