Kim Ju-ho, sculptor of 33 years on Ganghwa Island. Earth fired into figures of neighbors — karaoke scenes, field workers, smiling faces — in terracotta and steel.
"I reinterpret people and everyday scenes with reflection and ease. My sculptures speak the stories of neighbors."
Artist Profile
Kim Ju-ho graduated from Seoul National University (sculpture, BFA and MFA) and has worked as a full-time artist in Naega-myeon, Ganghwa Island for 33 years. His works are in the collections of MMCA, Daejeon Museum of Art, SOMA, and other major institutions. In 2025, he received the Kim Chong Yung Art Prize — praised as an artist who, unintimidated by Western art, has spent a lifetime finding what is ours.
A former resident artist at Incheon Art Platform, he has built a consistent body of work rejecting grand, authoritarian sculpture in favor of familiar, humane figures. His studio sits in Ganghwa's natural surroundings, where he tends fields and grapevines alongside his work.
The Work
He works in terracotta (jil-gui), wood, stone, and steel plate — with earthenware firing as his core method. The method intersects ceramic tradition and sculptural form, inscribing the accidental traces of earth and fire into the final figure. Lively scenes from ordinary life — a karaoke gathering, a field worker, a smiling face — translate into sculptural language.
His SAF contribution Milky Way at My Fingertips (jil-gui, 2020) carries cosmic imagination inside a small gesture. Making Love (steel plate, 33×20×9 cm, 2013) offers a warm, humorous figural study that invites a smile. The two works show how sculpture can be an intimate, welcoming language.
SAF
Kim Ju-ho joins SAF 2026 in solidarity with fellow artists who sit outside the financial system. Thirty-three years of full-time studio life on Ganghwa have taught him what living as an artist means. Sale revenue becomes a mutual-aid fund, returning as low-interest loans to artists facing financial discrimination.
Discover Kim Ju-ho's works at SAF Online.
Works by Kim Juho
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