Seong Joon Hong South Korea, b. 1987

Seong Joon Hong was born in 1987 in Seoul, South Korea, where he continues to live and work. He received his BFA in Painting from the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, Seoul, in 2012, and completed his MFA in Painting at the Graduate School of Hongik University in 2015. Since completing his studies, Hong has developed a sustained and methodical practice centred on the materiality and conceptual depth of painting itself, working between Seoul and Berlin.

Hong's practice is built on a single, precise question: what does a painting consist of before it becomes an image? His study layers series, which forms the core of his output, focuses on visualising the primers and paint layers that underpin each canvas, making visible the structural strata that are ordinarily concealed beneath the finished surface. Layers function in his work as both formal and philosophical elements: he considers memories to be the "paper" of his paintings, a skin that grows lighter from layer to layer, illustrating the fragility of memory and its capacity to be worn away or erased. Hanji, the traditional Korean paper produced through a process of at least one hundred steps and prized for its durability, breathability, and unique fibre structure, occupies a central role in his material vocabulary. Each sheet of Hanji is singular, shaped by its own inclusions and variations in colour and texture, and Hong treats this inherent diversity as a metaphor for the complexity of human identity and lived experience. Works such as Study layers 78 (2023), Study layers 84 (2023), Study layers 87 (2023), Silver Layer 9 (2023), and Touch the Sky 18 (2024) exemplify the sustained rigour and quiet visual intensity of this investigation. Tradition and innovation merge in his images, forming a narrative about the intricate, layered nature of life.

Seong Joon Hong gained significant international recognition in 2017 when he was selected as one of the "10 Contemporary Korean Artists" by Christie's Hong Kong, in connection with the exhibition Natural Selection. In 2020, he received the Publicart Magazine Award for New Hero. Group exhibitions include presentations at Mimesis Art Museum, Paju, Korea. His work has been presented at Frieze Seoul and at international art fairs across Asia.

Seong Joon Hong participated in the artist-in-residence program at 68projects by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin in the summer of 2023. The residency resulted in [Study layers], a solo exhibition presented at 68projects, Fasanenstrasse 68, Berlin, from 1 March to 20 April 2024. The exhibition brought together works produced during the Berlin residency, in which Hong continued his investigation into Hanji and the layered foundations of painting, situating his practice within the context of Berlin's contemporary art scene. KORNFELD Galerie Berlin has also presented Hong's work at KIAF Seoul (2023, 2024, 2025), Art Busan (2023), and West Bund Art and Design, Shanghai (2024). In 2024, he was included in Berlin on My Mind, the group exhibition at 68projects by KORNFELD Galerie Berlin celebrating ten years of the gallery's artist-in-residence program. His practice continues to deepen its engagement with the material and philosophical foundations of painting, building a body of work that is as culturally rooted as it is formally precise.