Biography

Yoo, Sun Tai
Born in 1957,
1985/89 Paris 8 University( Doctor's Degree )/Paris.
1984/85 Ecole National Superieur des Beaux-Arts / Paris.
1979/81 Hong-ik Graduate School( MFA )/Seoul.
1975/79 Hong-ik University( BFA)/Seoul

Solo Exhibition (selected) : 58times
2015~2017 30~33rd China Wookbong Museum of Art Museum
2019 58th Insa Art Center
2019 54th Seattle YS Gallery
2019 52nd Insa Art Center
2018 51st Busan Li Bin Gallery

Group Exhibition (selected)
2014~2020 Group Exhibition mull Exhibition (Sun Gallery, Insa Art Center)
2018~2019 The heart of the arts Exhibition (Hongik University Museum)
2016~2018 Kama Exhibition (Insa Art Center, Seoul Arts Center)
2012 Tokyo Art Show (Tokyo Me Gallery)
2010 Davao International Exhibition (Philippines)
2019 Art-Infalred Exhibition (Chungmu Art Hall)
2020 Art Central, Hong Kong

Art Fair (selected)
2015~2019 Seoul Art Show (COEX)
2015 Cheong do World Watercolor Painting Biennale (China City Museum)
2018 Santa Fe Art Fair (Santa Fe, USA)
2016 Myanmar World Art Fair (Yangon Gallery)
2016~2019 Formative Art Fair(COEX)
2018 Busan Art Show (BEXCO)
2017~2019 BAMA(BEXCO)
2017~2019 Daegu Art Fair(Exco)
2016 Seoul Auction Busan Bidding Exhibition (Seoul Auction)
2019 Hong Kong City Art Fair (Shangri-la Hotel)
2019 Bank Art Fair (Singapore)
2019 Affordable (Singapore F1Stadium) Majority of Art Fair Participation
2019 La Art Show
2020 KlAF Online Exhibition

Exhibition

Having worked in Paris for years, Yoo developed his now well-known style of three-dimensional painting incorporating style adopted from the western practices. Yoo is obsessed with objects such as book, typewriter, ladder, clock, bicycling man, bronze, apple, and other items. The artist conveys their latent and multi-faceted meaning – that of meditation, reflection, honesty, prayer, eternity, hope, nostalgia, light and affection. He takes such items as a means of metaphors of life elements which meanings depend on personal imagination and interpretation.

His painting is an epitome of the east-meets-west dreamy, surreal realm with a meditative and poetic sense. In his painting, he also uses the Korean letter as a kind of metaphoric language to add to his works some texture as well as some meaning to his audience. To complete his paintings, he adorns Korean letters over the whole canvas. The objects in his painting interact with each other through these ‘words’ and proliferates the depth of reading or interpretation depending on viewer's personality and own fantasy.

Henri Francois Debailleux wrote of Yoo's work: "His works tell stories that take place between colours and light, material and immaterial, tangible and intangible. Where the spirit leaves reality to find equilibrium in its own world. Yoo Sun-Tai enjoys arousing resonance and accents, which are reminiscent of music…to create a scene that has echoes and correspondence."

An intuitive painter, Yoo strives to transcend mere representation by tapping into our deeper emotional connections to these objects and what they have come to symbolize. An apple can symbolize the fall of humanity while the book represents learning, along with millions of interpretation of the same object through a never-ending range of cultured understanding among us. By presenting these objects within his dream-like settings, away from what he describes as a "sea of words" that surrounds us, Yoo asks us to meditate and take part by projecting ourselves into his world of sights and sounds.