BEAK Jungki

BEAK Jungki (b. 1981) delves profoundly into the essence of materials and specific subjects of interest are explored through deep research and scientific experimentation. His in-depth explorations are visualized through a hands-on-approach conducted personally by the artist. BEAK’s studio is like a scientist’s laboratory or a small version of a well-organized factory. He is an artist who demonstrates extraordinary creativeness by exploring the attitudes of humans towards nature, the environment of the past and the future, old culture of superstition, and today’s science and technology as well as philosophy. His scientific explorations on the relationship between human beings and nature, and the occurrence and flow of energy are put together to produce his own unique artistic creation, in works where candles wish for the birth of a baby chick, a generator that produces energy, an incubator the hatches the eggs and much more. Furthermore, his exploration on materials and experimentation can also be seen in his is of series. BEAK takes photographs of natural landscapes but prints images using pigments extracted from plants collected in those very locations. Unlike conventional photography, BEAK’s works incorporate actual elements of nature as direct materials, capturing the presence and uniqueness of ever-changing nature within the image.

BEAK received his BFA in Sculpture from Kookmin University in 2004 and his MFA in Fine Art from the Glasgow School of Art in 2008. He has held solo exhibitions at institutions including ARARIO GALLERY SEOUL (Seoul, Korea, 2023), Whiling & Dealing (Seoul, Korea, 2021), OCI Museum of Art (Seoul, Korea, 2019), and Alternative Space Loop (Seoul, Korea, 2012). Since 2004, he has participated in exhibitions at major Korean art institutions such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Amorepacific Museum of Art, Ulsan Art Museum, Songeun, Leeum Museum of Art, Nam June Paik Art Center, Posco Museum of Art, Daegu Art Museum, and Gyeonggi Museum of Modern Art. Internationally, BEAK has also been active in Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, the United States, Venezuela, Israel, China, Singapore, and Hong Kong. BEAK has received the Songeun Art Award (2012), the Kim Sejoong Young Sculptor Award (2019), and the IFVA Gold Award for Media Art from the Hong Kong Arts Centre (2023). BEAK’s works are part of major collections such as the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, Ulsan Art Museum, OCI Museum of Art, and Songeun in Korea.