Hyojoo Jang (b. 1988) explores the sensory differences felt between the inside and outside of boundaries through the physical form of sculpture. Focusing on the gap between the fictitious entities of the digital age and tangible reality, she visualizes a sense of tactility that is “visible yet untouchable” through the conjunction and juxtaposition of diverse materials.

In the early stages of her practice, Hyojoo Jang created three-dimensional forms using 3D modeling programs. However, despite applying the same effort to cutting and assembling as she would with physical materials, she came to realize that these digital forms were ultimately nothing more than hollow shells, lacking mass. This realization led her to begin a series of experimental sculptural works that bridge the virtual and physical worlds.

To this end, Jang began exploring the materiality of substances with physical weight and presence. She gradually incorporated a wide range of heterogeneous materials into her practice—ranging from traditional sculptural or craft materials to natural objects, manufactured goods, and industrial components.
 
In her artist notes, she refers to this sculptural exploration as “Material Play.” This term describes her process of discovering new energies that emerge from combining and juxtaposing conventional sculptural media with everyday objects or non-sculptural materials, and integrating those discoveries into her work.

Her work as a form of material play involves stripping various materials—such as ceramic, epoxy, latex, faux fur, metal, and fabric—of their original properties and functions, and reconfiguring them through unexpected combinations. The resulting pieces evoke a sense of encountering virtual imagery within the physical world, or appear as if something internal, perhaps meant to remain hidden, has spilled outward—producing a strange, uncanny presence within the exhibition space.

In addition, Hyojoo Jang shifted her practice from the vacuum-like virtual world of 3D programs to the real world, where physical dynamics are at play. In doing so, she not only pursued material experimentation but also explored how the state of a work changes once it is translated into actual space, and what kinds of relationships such transformations can generate.

The ‘R.S.’ series (2019–2020), with forms drooping downward from the wall under the force of gravity, and the ‘O.S.’ series (2021), in which heavy faux fur suspended from the ceiling spreads naturally onto the floor, demonstrate how physical mass responds to the natural force of gravity—transforming in form and establishing a tense, dynamic relationship with the surrounding space.

Hyojoo Jang has also emphasized the contrast between interior and exterior boundaries in everyday spaces through the use of texture and tactility. For instance, her series ‘Crow! Crow! Crow!’ (2021–2022) centers on the balcony—a space where the line between inside and outside becomes blurred and intermixed in our daily lives.
 
The work features stainless steel railings that evoke the architectural elements of a balcony, combined with crow sculptures made from latex. The crow, while referencing the outdoors, also suggests a breakdown of surface and interior boundaries through its latex "skin," presenting a form that exists in a state of material and spatial ambiguity.

Latex is a material that frequently appears in Hyojoo Jang’s work. The artist describes it as “an ideal material for exploring themes that invert the inside and outside of sculpture.” With its skin-like thinness and flexibility, latex adheres closely to any surface, allowing the “exterior” of a sculpture to appear as if it were its “interior”—or conversely, exposing the inner structures and contours outwardly.

Additionally, the flexible nature of latex allows for the physical inversion of a sculpture’s inside and outside, playing a role in subverting or deconstructing the boundaries of form. Hyojoo Jang employs latex as a medium to visually convey the ambiguity of interior and exterior boundaries, using it as a sculptural device that flips the conventional distinction between inside and outside.

The artist’s interest in materiality and the boundaries between inside and outside developed in tandem with the shifts in everyday life brought about by the pandemic. Viewing the absence of physical experience as giving rise to a longing for tactile contact, she reflected on concepts of “materialization” and “contact,” identifying the contradictions within this tension and making them central themes in her work.

The 2024 solo exhibition 《Invisible to the Naked Eye》 at G Gallery began as an inquiry into contemporary visual experiences, which mostly occur through smartphones and monitors. In this exhibition, Hyojoo Jang addressed the gap between digitally mediated objects and their physical counterparts in reality, focusing on the tactility of sculpture and exploring the quality of being “visible yet untouchable.”

While the artist’s previous solo exhibitions explored the concepts of inside and outside in spatial dimensions, this exhibition focused on the theme of inside and outside within the material itself. Today, we control all images by touching the smooth surface of smartphone screens, yet we cannot access the tactility beneath — the essence of the material.
 
By transforming the flat digital images that appear on sleek glass screens into physical materials, the artist gave tangible weight to the sensory gap that arises between the virtual and the real.

The sculptures by Hyojoo Jang encountered in the exhibition appear, at first glance, to offer unrestricted access to reality. However, upon closer inspection, one discovers a thin, membrane-like barrier that prevents reaching the deeper layers of the work.
 
For example, the ‘Cast Skin’ series (2023–2024) features zippers pulled open to reveal the hidden interiors. Inside, tactile materials such as fabric and fur fill the space, yet a thin silicone membrane envelops them, dulling and muting the texture beneath.

Viewers can clearly perceive the presence inside through the fully opened zipper, yet the transparent membrane prevents direct access to the substance contained within. Only the surface is visible to the naked eye, leaving tactile and other sensory experiences to the viewer’s imagination—reminding us that it is not much different from a tightly closed zipper.
 
This evokes the reality of reaching out toward a world trapped inside a monitor screen, only to remain confined to the device’s surface, unable to grasp its true essence.

In this way, Hyojoo Jang integrates the flat virtual world with the physical world by employing the principles of ready-made objects. She creates unfamiliar combinations from everyday materials, offering viewers an experience that is at once familiar and uncanny.
 
This sensory experience evokes the similarity to encountering virtual images within our everyday reality. Jang shares this process of retracing such analogous sensations with her audience, proposing a new paradigm for sculpture

 “When an image is transformed into a tangible mass, how can material relate to the force that pulls it downward into reality (gravity—not as an academic concept, but as a primal force in relation to matter)?
 
When I cut into a large mass, questions arise as to whether its cross-section is hollow or filled. At times, that cross-section seems like a door leading to another world.”  (Hyojoo Jang, Artist’s Note)

Hyojoo Jang graduated from Kookmin University and studied at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München under Professor Stephan Huber and then graduated the Diplom as Meisterschülerin from Professor Alexandra Bircken. Her solo exhibitions include 《Invisible to the Naked Eye》 (G Gallery, Seoul, 2024), 《Caw caw – Shooo – Ping!》 (SAGA, Seoul, 2022), and 《Crow! Crow! Crow!》 (GEDOK, Munich, 2021).
 
She has also participated in various group exhibition both domestically and internationally, including 《Tiere》 (Galerie Gruppe Motto, Hamburg, 2024), 《Center Shift》 (Total Museum, Seoul, 2023), 《DOOSAN Art Lab Exhibition 2023》 (DOOSAN Gallery, Seoul, 2023), 《Face_to_Face_to_Face 2021》 (Ulsan Art Museum, Ulsan, 2021), 《WESS Exhibition / Publication 2021》 (WESS, Seoul, 2021), 《Tacker》 (Galerie der Künstler, Munich, 2020), among others.
 
Jang has participated in residency programs including the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris (2025–2026) and Residency URRA (2024). She has also received project support from the Erwin und Giesela von Steiner-Stiftung (2024) and studio funding from the Bavarian State Ministry of Science and Arts (2023).

References

• 장효주, Hyojoo Jang (Artist Website)
• 사가, [서문] 까악까악 - 훠어이 - 쨍! (SAGA, [Preface] Caw caw – Shooo – Ping!)
• 두산아트센터, [서문] 두산아트랩 전시 2023 (DOOSAN Art Center, [Preface] DOOSAN Art Lab Exhibition 2023)
• 지갤러리(G Gallery), Jang Hyojoo 장효주 | 《육안으로는 관찰하기 어렵습니다》 Artist Talk
• 지갤러리, [서문] 육안으로는 관찰하기 어렵습니다 (G Gallery, [Preface] Invisible to the Naked Eye)
• 매일경제, 활짝 열린 지퍼, 그 안이 궁금해지네, 2024.05.21
• 삼성문화재단, [보도자료] 2025-2026년 파리 시테 레지던시 입주작가 선정