Artists - Sculptors
Seo Young-Deok
Seo Young-Deok was born in 1984 in South Korea, where he still lives and works.
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Artworks
Seo Young-Deok Curriculum
Seo Young-Deok graduated in 2008 from the University of Seoul's environmental sculpture department, and today creates hyper-realistic, life-size sculptures of human figures fashioned exclusively from welded chains taken from industrial machinery and bicycles.
Through his work of creatively repurposing of the iron chain, an element which has played a central role in the development of the industrial world, Seo explores the relationship between humans and their environment. He has been inspired by stark contrast between his rural upbringing in Korea and the urban lifestyle he later experienced as an adult.
Seo Young-Deok is primarily concerned with the human body, and, through his pieces, elaborates narratives based on the substantial understanding of formation. Rather than presented outright, these human and life stories are inferred through the molded poses and expressions of his figures. Seo Young-Deok considers the human as the essential element and main motif in his work, regardless of the sculpture and its story.
His studio is filled with figures representing the human body in various sizes, each with its own story and expression. Seo Young-Deok sculpts both of male and female subjects in a number of poses and postures, from sculpted heads to busts, torsos, and standing figures, reflecting his driving interest in the form of the human body. Most his figures are nude and, though formed from welded steel, seem almost to be carved or modelled from a malleable material or. Instead, his sculptures are made by welding individual pieces of iron together, and Young-Deok Seo is faithful to the conventional methods of drawing, modeling, casting, and welding to create his pieces, and completes all the finishing touches personally.
He has worked with White Room since 2014.
Seo Young-Deok Events & Exhibitions
