source: galleryhyundai
John Pai was born in Seoul, Korea in 1937 and moved to the United States in 1949. He graduated from the Pratt Institute and at the age of 27 became the youngest person to be appointed a professor there. He has been working continuously as a sculptor. In the 1950s and ‘60s, there were numerous modern masters in all artist fields working in New York and for Pai who was a student during this period, the city proved to be the most ideal environment in which he could learn and absorb everything. Choosing first to major in industrial design, Pai was deeply interested in a basic yet comprehensive coursework in three-dimensional design, which was founded on Bauhaus principles and focused on abstraction, visual analysis, and form and structure. After graduation, he was deeply moved by the constructivist work of Theodore Rosjak, a master of welded sculpture, and subsequently worked for two years as his assistant. Constructivism is the most notable tendency in Pai’s early work, and also played an important role in training the artist to comprehend the structures of objects by examining and analyzing them into basic elements. Through this method, he acquired the ability to work with abstract concepts in both his art and scholarship, breaking away from preconception in order to find elements common in all things. Vaguely resonant with the image of nature seen from the perspective of science, his artistic approach – breaking things down into minute units and reconstructing them – is a search to understand the limited inner world of the self through conceptual basics. It could be said that Pai’s structural objects, composed of abstract forms and individual building blocks, make familiar what we are not familiar, and incorporate what we don’t know in the world of which the artist is aware. The artist’s way of thinking discovers a certain abstractness shared by all objects through simple, repetitive acts, and expresses a certain movement through immobile objects. Like Bach’s music, Pai’s artistic attitude possesses a structural clarity, but also chooses the ineffable quality of abstract concepts. John Pai continues to tune time and space with his own brand of obscurity and clear structure.
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source: koreatimescokr
In the most traditional sense, sculptures are immovable as are those of John Pai. So it’s a testament to his talent that his works so vibrantly exude energy and the drama of music.

The Korean-American sculptor is featuring 20 of his works at Gallery Hyundai in central Seoul in an exhibition titled “In Memory’s Lair.”

His works, distinguished by a heavy use of wires and other metallic materials, are an exercise in calculated dynamism. There is a rhythmical sense to how the lines and shapes are constructed, but constructed they are with architectural balance and geometric perfection.

Pai’s sculptures begin with a small unit of rectangles and semicircles, which add up to create an entirely new form. Skillfully designed lightings create layers of shadows from the works, giving them visual depth.

Unlike many contemporary sculptors who draw a sketch and let metalworkers do the actual construction, the 75-year-old sculptor continues to do all his work himself ― from choosing the materials to welding and bending them. Many of the works are not pre-designed, with Pai altering shapes as he processes the materials.

“It’s very important for me to be in full control of my work in all aspects. In art, the work process is worth more than the end product,” Pai said.

He compared his work process to that of a veteran jazz band jamming and improvising on the way.

“The shape is a result of coincidence after coincidence and I don’t know how a piece will end up until it’s finished,” he said.

Interestingly, his favorite choice of work music is Bach.

“I always return to Bach as he created new music by giving variation to the most basic musical sequences,” Pai said.

The sculptor has been working with metals for about 10 hours a day for decades and suffers neuralgia in his right hand. But Pai doesn’t want to give up working.

“Steel wires are affordable and durable, but can disappear after becoming rusty. I like such a nature of wire, because it is similar to that of a living thing,” he said.

Pai was born in Seoul in 1937 and immigrated to the United States in 1949. His father was an independence activist against the Japanese colonial government and his mother was educated in Russia.

He studied design and sculpture at the Pratt Institute in New York and was appointed the youngest professor of his alma mater at the age of 27.