The exhibition A Certain Garden marks Jinsik Yoo’s first solo show in Korea and serves as an introduction to the trajectory of his artistic practice. In the wall relief Stolen Garden, we encounter a dense thicket of grass, figures within it—some embracing and dancing, others lost in contemplation. Beyond them stretch a dark sky and vast cosmos, evoking the boundless potential of space and time. The darkness that endlessly expands through nature bears traces of deep black soot.

This surface appearance originates from the ‘raku’ technique. When a work, fired to a glowing red heat, is removed from the kiln and placed into a container filled with combustible materials, spontaneous combustion occurs, releasing ephemeral smoke. Through this process, the surface develops unpredictable cracked patterns. For Yoo, this act becomes a confrontation with memory. “For as long as I can remember, our home was always filled with smoke,” he recalls. The smoke, for him, is not merely a physical phenomenon but a symbolic medium—one that evokes the complex ties between family and self. Personal recollections of incense rising from ancestral rites and shamanic rituals form the sensory foundation of the processional scenes that unfold in his work.

This procession is both a celebration and a proof of existence. During his military service, he was assigned to confront human rights demonstrations by social minorities—an experience that left a lasting sense of irony. It was only after moving to the United States that he recognized himself as part of the queer community. The sense of belonging he discovered in a place where no one knew him was intertwined with the realization of how far he had drifted from the familiar. Navigating the social realities of both Korea and the United States, the artist began to question how a single being could live as seemingly different selves within divergent boundaries. Through these dual experiences, he imagines figures that resist definition—beings who exist beyond categorization.

The Messengers series are figures made of clay—those who may remain even after all humankind has vanished. By juxtaposing beings who seem to drift in distant space with those grounded in the reality of earth, he envisions a borderless realm of existence. The garden, a traditional symbol of humankind’s desire to possess nature, expands in his imagination into a boundless landscape embracing all forms of life. The Certain Garden he envisions is one that cannot be owned or named, where every living thing—and every god—coexists.

The liberated beings born within this haze are, in the artist’s words, “my sons I shall never have” and “messengers who will continue my rites after I am gone.” Formed through clay, fire, and smoke, they possess an infinite life, living freely among us. Ultimately, the artist returns to Korea, bringing forth his most intimate self. The oldest memories and the closest sensations meet within the ever-expanding garden that Jinsik Yoo has created.

Written by Jiyoung Min

Jinsik Yoo (b.1985, born in Deajeon, Korea and lives in South Dakota, US) received his BFA in Communication and Graphic Design and his MFA in Ceramics from Konkuk University, Seoul, before earning a second MFA in Ceramics from Alfred University, New York. Alongside his own artistic practice in New York, he worked as a studio team member for Simone Leigh. He has held major solo exhibitions including Procession (Jane Hartsook Gallery, New York, 2024) and was selected for the NCECA’s Emerging Artists Fellowship Program (2021) by the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts. His works are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art of Medellín (Colombia) and the Alfred Ceramic Art Museum (U.S.). Yoo has also collaborated on exhibition projects with the Banana Republic flagship store in SoHo, New York, where all participating works were acquired.