Seung Yul Oh

Seung Yul Oh, Cycloid I, II, III, IV, V, and VI, 2024

Aluminium, epoxy paint. Courtesy Starkwhite, Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. Thanks to INEX Metals Ltd and Precision Laser Cutting & Welding.

Seung Yul Oh developed his Cycloid sculptures to play off the natural landscape that surrounds them, the expansive skies that flood the land and sea with sunlight by day, and the moon and stars by night. The six works are made of circular metal disks, airbrushed in brightly coloured car paints and wedged together. As we move past them, the whole procession starts to hum with motion, reflecting light, transforming, hanging on the verge of disappearance.

Seung Yul Oh (b.1981) lives in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. He completed his MFA at Elam School of Fine Arts in 2005. He works in sculpture, painting, and video, and is known for his abstract inflatables and cute mouse sculptures. His slick, commercial execution speaks to his embrace of pop spectacle. In 2011, he was Harriet Friedlander Resident in New York, and, in 2013, a SEMA Nanji Resident in Seoul. His 2013 survey show Moamoa: A Decade was organised by Dunedin Public Art Gallery and City Gallery Wellington. His public sculptures include OnDo (2015)—miraculously suspended giant noodles on the corner of Dominion and Balmoral Roads, in Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland.