Hong SungChul, Seoul, 1969.

Completed a master's degree and a bachelor's degree in sculpture at Hongik University in Seoul, before completing a master's degree in integrated media at the California Institute of the Arts in the United States. Since graduating, he has exhibited numerous times in the Far East, the United States and Europe, and his work is included in several international collections.

His work takes the form of sculptural constructions, mostly wall reliefs, (although some pieces are freestanding). Sequences of bungee cords are printed with photographic images and stretched across canvases or within steel frames. These images, from a distance, appear whole. On closer inspection, however, they become increasingly fragmented and fleeting, as the viewer becomes aware of their mode of fabrication. From this rupture in the perception of pictorial flatness a tension emerges.

The images are of arms and hands grasping, holding and intertwining, sometimes manipulating a string of beads or a wad of paper. There is an emphasis on intimacy in their depiction of mutual touch and interrelationship. The nature of the construction interrupts this and references the artist's desire to "reanimate communication"; the interruption makes us pay attention.

In Hong Sungchul's subtle and artful constructions we are posed with questions about how we live in the sometimes disconnected virtual world. His works aim to recapture a sense of intimacy, engagement and understanding. Fast and blurred perceptions are slowed down and examined; the rich quality and beauty of the simple and everyday is revealed.

Work at the collection: Perceptual