Sculptor SunTek Chung (B.F.A. ’00) sits with a stack of mahogany that a friend pulled out of his bar nearby. He’s not sure what it will become, but knows he’ll use it in some way. Here in his Williamsburg, Brooklyn studio, Chung sits both literally, and figuratively, at an enviable spot in his career. Chung is established enough in the art world, and his neighborhood to be working on a variety of interesting projects. Recently his work was included in a group show at Columbia University; next he’s anticipating having a piece in a show in Queens. He’s also planning a project bringing Korean food to Marfa, Texas this winter.
Chung’s unassuming about his success but buried beneath the laid back demeanor is a hard working artist. Chung’s main body of work features cinematic sets that he designed and built, inserting himself as a character, usually combining an east-west cultural reference. More recently he’s been making traditional sculpture, like the bronze busts of Kim Jong-Il and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak kissing that Art in America called a “hilarious” skewering of official portraiture.
“Sculptures can have a physically occupying insistence in a space,” Chung says, but he’s still interested in photography and, specifically, the “psychology of images.” From selfies to the way “technology is having a massive influence on how we perceive the world around us like never before.”
He also explores Asian stereotypes. Chung is working on a series where he takes old films with stereotypical Asian characters and inserts himself into the scenes with new dialogue.
Chung thanks VCU for his ability to jump between media comfortably and his ability to make things. “Once you understand how things are made around you, you acknowledge them differently.” he says.
When he got to Yale for his M.F.A. in sculpture Chung found himself in demand. “VCU definitely has a reputation for turning out ‘makers’ and it’s true. In grad school people would ask me how to make things all the time.”
He would often call up former VCU Assistant Professor, Blake Huff, for advice, he says. “Blake knew how to make just about anything, I would call him all throughout grad school with questions,” he says, adding that he was also particularly influenced by sculpture professor Kendall Buster.
“Kendall Buster was amazing, I remember taking notes on how she taught because I wanted it to influence the way I would someday teach.”
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