The lip smacking art of Roh Jaesoon

By Kayla Walker (@modernartprincess)

Roh Jaesoon is a Korean fine artist who has had much success in domestic and international markets, and it’s not hard to see why. Roh is not only a cheerful and friendly person, but his art is unique, breathtaking and carries deceptively deep thought. Roh’s art focuses on expression and storytelling using collaged images, colour, and symbolism.


Each of Roh’s paintings depicts a different story, represented by the images surrounding the colour saturated lips that are the main focal point of each painting. At first glance, the paintings look like skillfully crafted photograph collages. However, when looking more closely at each piece, you realize they are, in fact, oil paintings. The attention to fine detail in the lips contrasts the messy and chaotic background of the piece.

Roh uses the shape of the lips as a subtle hint towards body language and what can be expressed through changes in lip posture (biting, lips open, lips closed, teeth showing, etc.). He also uses the colour of the lipstick to help differentiate the stories of each painting. Each colour carries its own symbolism and importance to the piece.


The background of every picture is layered with chaos. Images, text (often written backwards), rips, and scribbles fill the canvas representing what is going on in our minds daily and the noise of the world around us. Roh describes it like this, “[…]People these days seem to be exhausted, tired and frustrated in those tremendous outcries of the sound. But someone might hear a message of affirmation and hope in those sounds. Now in my works, there are the sounds of people’s lives. I’d like to deliver today’s sounds of the world through the lips, signs, and scribbles on my works.”

Roh’s exhibition at Maru Art Center was well-curated. In the main hall, his stunning large canvas pieces were displayed in an intuitive way that led the viewer easily from one piece to the next. Roh’s drawings on paper (along with a few other smaller paintings) were displayed in a separate, slightly smaller exhibition space. The drawings carried their own form of beauty, although in a much simpler way than his large paintings.

For more information on Roh Jaesoon, follow him on Instagram @rohjaesoon.