As a South Korean artist based in Scotland, Keeryong’s work is informed by his investigations into the similarities and cultural differences that we all experience in relation to the objects around us and also, in contrast to where we live. Something he is has personally experienced living in another country.

Keeryong’s motivation for creating his artworks is to explore how the ambiguity of an individual’s cultural interpretation can help to create the state of “uncanniness” in the audience’s visual experiences. He believes that this “uncanniness” provokes emotions and feelings which Keeryong manipulates to great effect. Seeing this as a ‘powerful tool’ within his artistic practice, he aims to promote the awareness of stereotypes in an individual’s cultural understanding.

In his own words:

“I am hoping my work (stereotypical view on Oriental image and typology of the shape) can provoke some awareness of many issues that are constructed around cross-cultural experiences.”

Keeryong came to Scotland to complete a Master of Design at Edinburgh College of Art and in 2010 embarked on his PhD in Glass and Architectural Glass. He has shown his work widely across the UK and Europe as well as in the USA and South Korean; exhibiting at SOFA (Chicago, USA), International Glass Prize 2015 (Belgium) and Collect (London, UK). In 2015 he received the British Glass Biennale National Glass Centre (NGC) Residency Award. Most recently, in 2023 Keeryong was a finalist for the highly coveted Loewe Craft Prize.

Public Collections include: Museums and Galleries Edinburgh (City of Edinburgh Council, Scotland) | Oriental Museum (Durham University, UK) | National Museum of Scotland (Edinburgh, Scotland) | The National Glass Centre (Sunderland UK) | Imagine Museum (St. Petersburg, USA) | Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, USA)

Artist portrait by Jaro Mikos.