Biography
Donghoon Rhee (b. 1991) carves plants, animals, and human figures from wood, exploring the vegetal forms and bodily movements that emerge through the material of wood itself. By re-observing completed sculptures or documenting them through photography and translating them into paintings, he investigates how material transforms as it shifts from one medium to another. Surfaces, structures, and forms revealed in sculpture are re-translated into paintings using oil or acrylic. By altering his position and gaze toward the sculpture, he focuses on the changes in form and differences in sensation that arise in the process. Through this approach, painting becomes a means of reinterpreting sculpture and generating new modes of perception.
He studied painting at Kyung Hee University and received his MFA in Fine Arts from Seoul National University of Science and Technology. His solo exhibitions include Light Choreography, Gallery SP, Seoul (2023); Woman, VSF&milk, Los Angeles (2022); and The statue knows how to dance, Gallery SP, Seoul (2021). He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Idolography: Reading K-pop at the Presseum, Presseum, Seoul (2025); 2024 7th Changwon Sculpture Biennale Prologue Exhibition – Speaking about the future : Shape, Map, Tree, Changwon (2023); Natural Born Odds, Salihara Arts Center, Jakarta (2023); and Sculptural Impulse, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art , Seoul (2022). Rhee’s works are held in notable public and private collections of X Museum, Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Ulsan Art Museum, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA), and the Art Bank of Korea.
Statement
For me, sculpture is not about simply reproducing a subject as it is. The form of the subject is redefined within the material. As I follow the grain, density, and texture of wood in search of form, I become fully focused on both the material and the subject. In that process, my presence as the expressive subject gradually fades, leaving only the material and the subject behind.
My paintings serve as a space for revisiting the actions practiced through sculpture. While in sculpture I determine the form of a subject by respecting the strong voice of the material, painting becomes a process of looking again at the forms, colors, and textures that emerged through sculptural making. I observe them through my own eyes or through the lens of a camera, and reflect on them again on the canvas.
As I follow the nature of the material, the form of the sculpture often reveals itself naturally. I have sculpted plants, animals, and human figures while considering forms that can only be made through wood. In particular, in my sculptures of animals and human figures, I am interested in how movement transforms form.
The choreography of K-pop idols presents this question with particular clarity. The colors and forms derived from their costumes, hairstyles, and makeup generate new questions of expression when combined with movement. Through this, I consider how the sensation of movement can remain within the material.
Education
2020 M.F.A., Department of Fine Arts, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, Seoul
2017 B.F.A., Painting, Kyung Hee University, Seoul
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Light Choreography, Gallery SP, Seoul
2022 Woman, VSF&milk, Los Angeles, USA
2021 The statue knows how to dance, Gallery SP, Seoul
2019 Room with Flowers, DrawingRoom, Seoul
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 Balance in Motion, P21, Seoul
2026 Till 7, From 7, DrawingRoom, Seoul
2025 Symbiotic Planet, Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul
2025 Second Signal, biscuit gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2025 Idolography: Reading K-pop at the Presseum, Presseum, Seoul
2025 CRUSH ZONE, Gallery SP, Seoul
2024 UNBOXING PROJECT 3.2: Maquette, VSF, Los Angeles, USA
2024 Open Corridor, INTERRIM, Seoul
2024 Breathe in, Breathe out, Wooran Foundation, Seoul
2024 grid3, biscuit gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2023 2024 7th Changwon Sculpture Biennale Prologue Exhibition – Speaking about the future : Shape, Map, Tree, Changwon Sculpture Biennale, Changwon
2023 Natural Born Odds, Salihara Arts Center, Jakarta, Indonesia
2023 Paper, Practice, Case Seoul, Seoul
2023 RePlant, Seoul National University Power Plant, Seoul
2022 Sculptural Impulse, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul
2022 Ziggy Stardust, N/A, Seoul
2022 2022 NEW RISING ARTIST, Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art, Jeju
2022 OBJECT UNIVERSE, Ulsan Art Museum, Ulsan
2021 off, Space Four One Three, Seoul
2021 Awkward Gaps, White Noise, Seoul
2021 Dancing Casper, SAGA, Seoul
2021 Human Shape Materials, LaLa&, Seoul
2020 Namhaegak: Daily History, Namhaegak, Gyeongsangnam-do
2020 No Space, Just a Place. Eterotopia, Daelim Museum, Seoul
2020 Hotel Express 284, Culture Station Seoul 284, Seoul
2020 In a Flash, Ilwoo Space, Seoul
2019 XOXO, Nook Gallery, Seoul
Projects
2021 Grave Monuments, Art Sonje Center, Seoul
2020 Sujanggo, www.sujanggo.com
2019 pr,op, pr,op, Seoul
Collaboration
2021 Hong Seung-Hye Solo Exhibition; On Stage, Ilmin Museum of Art, Seoul
Residency
2025 Seoul Art Space Geumcheon, Seoul
Collection
X Museum
Jeju Museum of Contemporary Art
Ulsan Art Museum
National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea, Art Bank
