Choongmok Yoo is a Korean artist whose work reflects a deep conversation between tradition and modernity. Born in 1977, he studied Environmental Art and Design at Namseoul University before continuing his education in the UK, where he earned a master’s degree in Visual Practice at the University of Sunderland. He later returned to Korea to complete doctoral research at Seoul National University of Science and Technology. After spending nearly ten years living and working in the U.S. and UK, Yoo came back home with a desire to reconnect with his roots and to explore what it means to carry history forward in a rapidly changing world. His work has since been exhibited internationally and acquired by public and private collections in Korea, Europe, and the U.S., earning honors such as the NICHE Award and the National Glass Center Grand Prize.

Yoo’s recent work focuses on the form of glass water droplets, arranged delicately across yellow-stained wood panels. These droplets, shaped with care and intention, seem to shift depending on the light or the viewer’s position, casting shadows that move and evolve throughout the day. Drawing from the traditional Korean color system of obangsaek and the decorative painting style of dancheong, Yoo offers his own interpretation: one that blends emotion, memory, and a quiet sense of time passing. Each droplet feels personal, almost like a fragment of his lived experience. Together, they form a landscape that’s both intimate and open, an invitation to pause, to reflect, and to notice what often goes unseen.