whee studio



1984 Born in Seoul, Korea. Lives and works in Seoul and Manila. 

woni.cha@gmail.com


Artist Note
2024
2023
2021
2020
2019
2018


■ Education

2012 Master of Fine Arts, Sculpture, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea
2007 Bachelor of Fine Arts, Sculpture, Rhode Island School of Design, Rhode Island, U.S


■ Solo Exhibition / Awarded Exhibition

2023 “Supreme Yard”, Leon Gallery, Manila, Philippines
2013 “Idolic Bonanza”, Competition Awards Solo Exhibition, Kunst Dog, Seoul, Korea
2011 “Spring up! Mentoring Project 2011”, Two Person Exhibition - Seoul Foundation of Arts and Culture Sponsored Project, Space Can, Seoul, Korea 


■ Group Exhibition

2024 “Wild-Women Abstractionists on Nature”, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, Philippines 
2023 “Gallery Benefit 2023”, National Gallery Singapore, Singapore
2022 “Art Detour II”, Leon Gallery, Manila, Philippines 
2021 “From Vivid Color to Image”, Manila House, Manila, Philippines
2021 ”Art Detour”, Leon Gallery, Manila, Philippines
2020 “Women and Time”, Assumption College, Manila, Philippines
2018 “Heritage-Trace: RISD exhibition”, L’espass 71 Gallery, Seoul, Korea 
2017 “1968 Contemporary Space 2017”, Contemporary Space Association 50 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Kim Jong-young Museum, Seoul, Korea
2017 “RED”, RISD Exhibition, Sophis Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2015 “Prelude for Twenty Differences”, Art Space Flask, Seoul, Korea
2012 “Exhibition for Outstanding Graduate Students”, Seoul National University Museum of Art MOA, Gwanak-gu, Seoul


■ Press

2024
Philstar Life : Wild Women
https://philstarlife.com/geeky/174255-wild-women-abstractionists-nature?page=7%23
2023
Lifestyle Inquirer : Wonhee Delgado embodies the delights of making art dynamic
https://lifestyle.inquirer.net/484330/wonhee-delgado-embodies-the-delights-of-making-art-dynamic/
Tatler Asia : León Gallery presents Whee’s solo exhibition, showcasing fantasy as a journey to the self
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/wonhee-whee-cha-delgado-solo-exhibition-2023
Art Plus : Fantasy and Fusion
https://artplus.ph/features/fantasy-and-fusion?format=amp
Philstar Life : Whee Cha Delgado’s vibrant art
https://philstarlife.com/geeky/219297-whee-cha-delgado-vibrant-art?page=3
2022
Tatler Asia : South Korean painter Wonhee Delgado finds her home amid the Manila art scene
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/arts/making-a-statement-wonhee-delgado
2021
Philstar Life : 'Art Detour' at Leon Gallery
https://www.philstar.com/lifestyle/fashion-and-beauty/2021/06/30/2108964/art-detour-leon-gallery

Instagram

Artist Note

I have spent much of my life abroad, yearning to free myself from the constraints of an identity shaped by the gaze of others. Living overseas allowed me to escape the fixed ideas of "who I should be" and "what I should become," offering a breath of relief from those rigid expectations. It took me a long time to break free from my own distorted attitudes that suppressed my inner self.

My work initially began as an attempt to express the body caught in the swamp of longing, the psyche reduced to a mass of desires weighed down at the bottom. But even that felt insufficient. Life and art transcend the stimuli we receive from the world—they are something more. I believe my work should not merely speak but evoke, stirring emotions and sensations beyond words.

Through my persistent exploration of nature, I gradually moved beyond what is visible to contemplate the essence that lies beneath. Depicting fixed forms felt limiting; I sought to reveal boundless energy unconfined by any frame of thought or perspective. My work aims to collapse the boundaries of objects interpreted as symbols or paintings read as representations. I want to dissolve the lines between form and formlessness, between the visible and invisible, reaching toward an infinite depth that expresses the raw intensity of the unseen. Borrowing from nature, I strive to channel energy in a way that feels like shedding an outer shell and journeying into the most intimate core of being.

I aim to abandon form, to relinquish the space for interpretation, and to arrive at the very foundation of painting. Like vines that intertwine—soft yet destructive, persistent in their vitality—I seek to immerse myself in infinity through paintings that are alive with rough textures and vibrant, powerful colors. What is visible now pursues the truth of the unseen, the immaterial. It is a search for the fundamental, the ungraspable core of painting.


작가 노트

나는 삶의 많은 시간을 타지에서 보냈다. 타인의 시선에 의해 규정된 정체성의 틀에서 벗어나고 싶었다. 외국에서의 삶은 “어떻게 되어야 하고 무엇이 되어야 하는지”에 대한 고정된 관념으로부터 나를 해방시켰다. 나의 내면을 억압하던 왜곡된 태도를 내려놓기까지는 오랜 시간이 걸렸다.

처음에는 갈망의 늪에 빠진 신체와 욕망으로 가득 찬 인간의 심리를 표현하는 작업으로 시작했다. 하지만 이것만으로는 충분하지 않았다. 삶과 예술에는 단순히 삶으로부터 받은 자극을 넘어서는 어떤 본질적인 것이 존재한다고 믿는다. 나의 작업은 무언가를 말하기보다, 그것을 통해 감각하고 느끼게 하기를 바란다.

자연을 끊임없이 그리며 점차 보이는 것 자체가 아닌, 보이는 것 너머의 본질에 눈을 돌리게 되었다. 고정된 형태를 그린다는 것은 본질적으로 제한적이다. 나는 생각의 틀이나 어떤 정의에도 갇히지 않는 충만한 에너지를 드러내고자 했다. 오브제로서 읽히는 사물이나 단순히 해석되는 회화를 넘어, 형태의 경계를 허물고 보이는 것과 보이지 않는 것의 구분을 무너뜨리며, 보이지 않는 것들의 무한함과 강렬함을 표출하고 싶었다. 자연을 통해 에너지를 표현한다는 것은 마치 입고 있던 외피를 벗고 내밀한 본질로 들어가는 여정과도 같다.

나는 형태를 내려놓고, 해석의 틀을 벗어나 보다 회화의 본질에 다가가고자 한다. 어디에서 시작되고 어디에서 끝나는지 알 수 없는 넝쿨처럼, 부드럽지만 동시에 파괴적이고, 끈질긴 생명력을 품은 회화를 그리고자 한다. 거칠고도 강렬한 터치와 색채로 가득 찬 작품은 스스로의 에너지로 살아 움직이며 무한의 영역으로 스며든다. 이제 나의 작업은 단순히 보이는 것을 넘어, 보이지 않는 회화적 진실과 비물질적 본질을 탐구하는 여정을 담아내고 있다.