untitled ( JK630 ) 2006 rolled paper and glue,  h: 38.1 x w: 73.7 x d: 27.9 cm



untitled ( JK 632 ), 2007-08 rolled paper, glue and calligraphy ink
installation of 14 works, dimensions variable

"[Paper] is familiar to everybody, and not very special, yet making something 3D out of it – that is something different. I didn’t want to make something on paper; I wanted to make something with it." - Jae Ko

Untitled Prussian Blue JK 209, rolled paper, ink, 2004

untitled ( JK 634 ), 2008 kraft paper, installation view

untitled ( JK 635 ), 2008 kraft paper, installation, dimensions variable

Solo Exhibition, Marsha Mateyka Gallery, January 2009 kraft paper, installation view

Jae Ko's most recent sculptures are more aggressive in their physicality and more complex in their surface treatment than her earlier work. Ko uses large, tightly bound spools of adding-machine paper that she wraps, folds, and contorts like taffy. Her previous exhibitions featured low, largely symmetrical iridescent black or colored wall reliefs-round, ovoid, and square- whose subtle surface modulations suggested labia, the glyphs of Asian signature seals, or topographic models of old, eroded hills. The Washington, DC-based artist, born in Korea and educated in Tokyo, travels extensively in North America, finding inspiration in unusual and extreme natural forms. The wall reliefs and floor pieces in her new show were in fact inspired by the wind-blasted trunks of the ancient bristlecone pines that the artist encountered on a trip to California's White Mountains. - by Nord Wennerstrom

4 Minutes 2009, Acrylic on canvas, h: 150 x w: 200 cm / h: 59.1 x w: 78.7 in



Gare de Madrid   2010, Acrylic on canvas, h: 150 x w: 200 cm / h: 59.1 x w: 78.7 in



Entre Acte  2010, Acrylic on canvas, h: 130 x w: 130 cm / h: 51.2 x w: 51.2 in



Midi ou Minuit   2010, Acrylic on canvas, h: 150 x w: 300 cm / h: 59.1 x w: 118.1 in

"The main characteristic of my works is a kind of duality which finds many ways to express itself: abstract versus realism, ubiquity, diachronicity, microscopic and macroscopic, and so on. I’m always trying to engage in extreme or contrary dialogue. In abstract compositions, some hyperrealistic figures will make you try to find some kind of space, but you will keep wondering if you really have to see it that way, because something flat will try to empeach you. Somehow, you will feel like you are hanging between two worlds.

This may very well be a reflection of my background . Born in Korea — a divided country — I live in France, and feel like I exist between two worlds. In my daily life, I often serve as a link of sorts between members of the Korean community and other groups, and somehow, this interesting condition also reveals another side : the sense of being nowhere. That feeling has made its way into my paintings regardless of my intentions." - Jung Yeon Min