Between Calligraphy, Nature and Sculpture
Paper is one of the most familiar materials in everyday life. It is written on, folded, discarded or recycled. Korean-American artist Jae Ko transforms it into something entirely different: monumental sculptures that evoke geological formations, tree rings, glaciers and wind-shaped landscapes. For her first solo exhibition in Belgium, Antwerp’s 22MUSE Gallery presents “Striated – Writing with Form,” an exhibition exploring the relationship between material, time and nature.
A Material That Speaks
For more than forty years, paper has been the foundation of Jae Ko’s artistic practice. She works with recycled paper, adding machine rolls and industrial paper, carefully unwinding, re-rolling, twisting, soaking and drying the material over months until it evolves into sculptural forms.
Rather than forcing the material into submission, Ko collaborates with it. Every crease, tension and imperfection remains visible, allowing paper to reveal possibilities far beyond its everyday purpose.
Writing Without Words
The exhibition subtitle, “Writing with Form,” perfectly captures Ko’s artistic language. Although her works contain no written characters, they resemble monumental calligraphic gestures. Lines become volume, movement becomes mass, and rhythm occupies physical space.
Her early practice was deeply rooted in East Asian calligraphy, using traditional pigment inks derived from burnt wood. Today, those origins merge with inspiration drawn from the American landscapes surrounding her studio—tree rings, roots, tornadoes and wind-shaped pines all resonate within her sculptures without ever becoming literal representations.
Time as a Creative Medium
Jae Ko’s sculptures are not simply constructed—they evolve. Paper is soaked, exposed to sunlight, buried, reshaped and allowed to transform through time. This slow process becomes as important as the finished work itself.
The resulting sculptures feel both monumental and delicate, disciplined yet organic. They remind us that transformation rarely happens instantly. Like landscapes, it emerges layer upon layer.
Beyond Sculpture
Jae Ko’s work dissolves the boundaries between sculpture, installation and drawing. Her practice demonstrates how an ordinary material can possess extraordinary emotional and spatial power.
With “Striated,” she invites viewers to reconsider paper—not as a surface that carries ideas, but as an idea in itself, shaped by movement, time and the quiet intelligence of material.
The exhibition runs from 23 October to 28 November 2026 at 22MUSE Gallery in Antwerp, marking the artist’s first solo exhibition in Belgium.
