Primitive Artificiality is ultimately an invitation to imagine transformation—not as an ending, but as the beginning of another form of life.
Hyunsuk Erickson is a Korean American multidisciplinary artist who explores transformation, identity, and the relationship between organic and constructed forms. Her practice, Primitive Artificiality, imagines a world where natural and synthetic materials become intertwined to create new forms of life.
Through sculpture and installation, Erickson creates hybrid beings that blur the boundaries between plant, animal, human, and manufactured objects. Her ongoing Thingumabob series brings these imagined species together in evolving environments. Crochet, knotting, embroidery, ceramics, plastic, PVC, found materials, and fabricated elements become skins, bodies, structures, and unfamiliar forms.
Her process combines intimate, repetitive handwork with constructed materials, connecting craft, memory, labor, and transformation. Influenced by her experience of moving between cultures, Erickson sees identity as something fluid—continually adapting and becoming.
Her installations invite viewers into an unfamiliar but playful world where different materials, bodies, and identities become entangled, suggesting that transformation can create new possibilities rather than fixed definitions.
ARTIST RESIDENCIES
2025 — Meteora Artist Residency, Meteora, Greece
2024 — Banff Centre Spring Residency (Scholarship Award), Banff, Canada
2023 — Vermont Studio Center Residency, Vermont, USA
2022 — Anderson Ranch Arts Center Residency (Fully Funded), Colorado, USA
EDUCATION
2022 — MFA, American University, Washington, DC, USA
2004 — BFA, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, USA
1991 — BFA, Chungjoo University, Chungju, Korea
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2026 — One Thread, Many Bodies, DC Arts Center (DCAC), Washington, DC
2025 — Thinggy of Their Town, IA&A Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC
2023 — Thingumabob World, 636 Art Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2023 — Thingumabob Society, Burlington City Arts, Vermont, USA
2023 — Thingumabob Mirea (Future), Korean Consulate, Washington, DC
2021 — Unknown World, Korean Consulate, Washington, DC
2019 — Four Season, Korean Consulate, Washington, DC
2017 — Existence, Chungjoo International Biennale, Korea
2016 — Plastic Blooms, Gallery HAC, Georgia, USA
2015 — Micro Plastic World, Hire Grounds, Georgia, USA
2014 — Resistance, Gallery Doo, Seoul, Korea
2013 — Nature & Plastic, Vineyard at Florence, Texas, USA
2013 — Cherish, NEWALL Gallery, Seoul, Korea
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2026 — Primitive Artificiality, Perkins Center for the Arts, New Jersey
2025 — The Trawick Prize Contemporary Art, Gallery B, Bethesda, Maryland
2024 — Sculpture Now 2024, McLean Project for the Arts, Virginia
2024 — Create / Inspire / Empower, Park Tyson, Virginia
2024 — The Point of View, Sandy Spring Museum, Maryland
2023 — Something Still Singing, Kreeger Museum, Washington, DC
2023 — Queering Nature, Sandy Spring Museum, Maryland
2023 — Balanced, Asian Arts & Culture Center, Maryland
2022 — Reimagining Peace to Come, Maryland Hall, Maryland
2022 — Interconnected, KCS Center, New York, NY
2022 — Trash, Local Project Gallery, New York, NY
2022 — Asia North 2022, Motor House / Stillpoint Gallery, Baltimore, MD
2021 — Infinite Spectrum, Riverside Gallery, New Jersey
2019 — Crossing, Western Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2018 — NARS Foundation Invitational, New York, NY
2012 — Blooming on the Land, Rio+20 Cultural Program, Seoul, Korea
2010 — International Exchange Exhibition, Nagano, Japan
PERFORMANCE / INSTALLATION
2026 — Entangled Growth ( Installation), Ashe & Norton Gallery, Washington, DC
2026 — After Flash, Synthetic (Performance + Installation), Freight Gallery, Washington, DC
2022 — MFA Thesis Installation, Katzen Arts Center, American University, Washington, DC
AWARDS / GRANTS / HONORS
2024 — Banff Centre Residency Scholarship Award
2022 — Fully Funded Residency, Anderson Ranch Arts Center
2012 — Government Invitational Project, Ministry of Environment, Korea (Rio+20)
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2025 — Director, BAL (Brandywine Art Lounge) Gallery, Brandywine, MD
2025 — Artist Talk, Thinggy of Their Town, IA&A Hillyer Gallery, Washington, DC
2023 — Artist Talk, Thingumabob Society, Burlington City Arts, Vermont
2018–Present — Instructor, US Art Center, Virginia
2018–2019 — Instructor, Montgomery College, Maryland
2005–2006 — Art Instructor, Montgomery College, Maryland
PUBLICATIONS & PRESS (SELECTED)
East City Art — Trawick Prize Coverage
Kreeger Museum Exhibition Catalog (PDF Publication)
Burlington City Arts Exhibition Guide & Artist Talk Documentation
MutualArt — Thinggy of Their Town Exhibition Feature
Discerning Eye Substack — Exhibition Review
Feature Seven Days Vermont — Feature Article on Thingumabob Society
Korea Times — Korean Consulate Exhibition Coverage
American University Museum / Katzen MFA Exhibition Documentation
YouTube Artist Talks & Interviews (Burlington City Arts, Korean Consulate)
Video Gallery
Sculpture
Thingumabob Series
Mixed Media
Painting