Yoo Changchang
What the artist consistently suggests is that our life in the world is absurd. It is so absurd that it cannot be combined into a single value or logic. Considering the fact that the artist was one of the few top Korean cartoonists of comics of cheerful atmosphere with exaggerated action for children and adults before he gained recognition as a painter, the world his paintings show is no different from that of such cartoons. The world of cheerful cartoons repeats a series of coincidences that cannot be rationally explained, along with absurd events and stories. The people living in this world cannot predict the future. Past, present, and future have nothing to do with each other. Mistakes and errors spring up from here and there, but rest assured, no matter how complex or huge the trouble is, it shall all be resolved. Or one may as well just deceive oneself that it is all resolved. And today begins as if there were no problems. This cheerful world, paradoxically, exposes the essence of human beings, the essence of society, which is not at all cheerful. Even as he manages to pull off a bright smile, he shows a pessimistic view of the world that is openly skeptical and cynical. The world is infinitely full of contingencies, and the heavy inner world and minds of human beings and the unbearable lightness of events and stories live together.
Yoo Changchang (b.1974)
2007 Complete course in Animation, Film, TV & Multimedia Department, Korea National University of Arts, Seoul
Solo Exhibitions
2017 CHUCK, ArtSpace Hue, Paju
2015 Between you and me..., Seloarts, Seoul
2012 Yoo Chang Chang, Seloarts, Seoul
2010 How Come We Are This Childish, Gallery King, Seoul
Selected Group Exhibitions
2016 Monkeys in the Cabinet of Curiosity, SHINSEGAE Gallery, SHINSEGAE GALLERY CENTUM CITY Seoul, Busan
2016 Ritual, Gallery Royal, Seoul
2016 BIFAN : 20years, 20favorites, 20illustrations, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Bucheun
2016 Low brow MONSTERS, Blockhouse Gallery, Tokyo
2016 Kahn's private life, ArtSpace Hue, Paju
2016 Illustration Festa 016, InthePaper Gallery, Seoul
2015 New Cartographers, Songwon Art Center, Seoul
2015 Kahn Parade, ArtSpace Hue, Paju
2015 An eye for a tooth. A tooth for an eye, Art Space Pool, Seoul
2015 Illustration Festa 015, Gallery Won, Seoul
2014 Monthly Project YOONJONGSHIN Exhibition, GANAINSA Art Center, Seoul
2014 llustration Festa 014, Gallery Won, Seoul
2013 Les Flâneurs, Gallery Skape, Seoul
2012 FESTIVAL INTERNATIONAL DE LA BANDE DESSINÉE, Angouleme, France
2012 UNTITLED, TV 12 Gallery, Seoul
2012 Beautiful Star, Beyond Museum, Seoul
2011 Improvised Dream, Art Factory, Heyri
2010 Outskirts of the Panopticon, Space Woong, Seoul
2010 BYUL project #8_Ether, Changchang Yoo, BYUL Collection, Seoul
2009 Jangpa, Yoo ChangChang, TV 12 Gallery, Seoul
2009 Potrait Sign, Gallery King, Seoul
2009 100 Years of Korean Cartoon, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Gwacheon
2009 Seogyo Nanjang 2009, Gallery King, Seoul
2009 New Energy, Seoul Art Space, Seoul
2009 The Grand Date with Artists, Space of Art, ETC, Seoul
2008 EGO DANCE_3, Gallery SSamzie, Seoul
2008 New Generation Art Fair, Space of Art, ETC, Seoul
2008 20/20 YAF 2rd, Kukminilbo Gallery, Seoul
2008 Art Life Project, Uijeongbu Arts Center, Uijeongbu
2008 Heart Show, INSA Art Center, Seoul
2007 YAF, Kukminilbo Gallery, Seoul
2007 Micro/Weiv-Finding Diamond!, Gallery 175, Seoul
2007 EGO DANCE_2, Gallery COTT, Seoul
2007 EGO DANCE_1, ETHER in Coffeecup, Seoul
2007 Paper Patbingsu, GRAU Gallery, Seoul
2004 PAMAHEAD-JAK NAN, Seoul Animation Center, Seoul
1998 Underground Comix & Animation Festival in Korea Prefair, KUMHO MUSEUM OF ART, Seoul
