10/06/2026
Youngju Joung’s ‘Spring series’ from 2023, is featured in ‘X Collection 404: When Landscapes Draw Near’, which is currently on view through August 16, 2026 at the X Museum in Beijing, China! As the fifth collection exhibition, it focuses on the idea of landscape as a subject continuously revisited throughout art history, bringing together more than 40 Chinese and international contemporary artists. The exhibition aims to expand the notion of landscape beyond nature, encompassing imagination, inner experience, constructed space, and contemporary realities.
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South Korean artist Youngju Joung paints unique cityscapes inspired by her native country. Softly lit at twilight, her works capture sprawling urban scenes that stretch beyond view, speckled with flickering lights that hint at a dense yet unseen human presence.
The artist creates these images by crumpling and unfolding traditional Korean paper upon which she paints her work. By creasing, scratching and wrinkling the paper, the artist evokes a way of life that feels authentically dilapidated, used and reused; and yet it retains a distinctly warm and peaceful atmosphere. The medium itself has endured a wearing process, just as the buildings it presents. These paintings do not beautify or exaggerate, they are honest representations of exposed bricks, slate rooftops and rusted gates. These homes are reflections of their humble occupants, dimly lit and ageing, we are absorbed into this world at a fleeting moment of natural beauty before darkness descends. At the centre of this peaceful transition lies a sacred domestic routine, where each light represents a life, faintly glowing amongst the hum of the living city.
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Installation views
Courtsey of X Museum
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