KO SONG HWA

| The Poetics of Light and Waves

Artist Songhwa Ko began her artistic journey as a middle school art teacher. Driven by an unquenchable thirst for deeper artistic exploration, she completed her master’s degree in Western Painting at Hongik University and has since devoted herself fully to her practice as a professional artist for the past 38 years in France. Through decades of contemplation and creative labor, her work has crystallized into a distinctive abstract language she calls Les Ondes—the waves.

Ko’s works are composed of deeply incised lines on thick, monochromatic canvases. These lines, drawn with intense concentration, extend beyond mere visual elements to become resonant waves—evocative rhythms that traverse the boundary between freedom and tension, vision and sensation.

Departing from her previous method of layering straight lines over soft curves, Ko’s recent works juxtapose geometric forms such as circles, triangles, and squares. These shapes, rendered in luminous spectrums of color, introduce a vivid rhythm and subtle tremor of hue to the restrained monochromatic surface, offering viewers a new kind of structured visual experience.

Her work represents a refined synthesis of Eastern monochrome aesthetics with Western Constructivism and Minimalism, creating a uniquely harmonious abstract language. Especially notable are the deeply etched lines—repeated gestures that, depending on the viewer’s movement and the angle of light, seem to emit their own glow, transforming the surface into a vibrant, living field of visual resonance.

Ko has dedicated her life to the act of drawing these lines, as though engaged in a lifelong practice of disciplined meditation. The physical labor and unwavering focus behind each piece manifest in the density and depth of her compositions. In her paintings, the canvas is no longer a quiet plane but a poetic space where waves, colors, light, and rhythm intersect—an abstract landscape where perception and sensation meet.

Press

Works

Biography

Education

PhD Mathematics, University of Paris I, Sorbonne (Paris, France)
Graduated from Sorbonne Paris 1 University Doctoral Preparatory Course (Paris, France)
Graduated from Hongik Graduate School of Western Painting (Seoul, Korea)
Engraving Studio Mathematics (Paris, France)

solo exhibition

Biography of the oppressed, Tele Communisson (Nohden, Germany)
Blood pressure (FIAP). (Paris, France)
Gallery Lemière (Nanterre, France)
Burce Hospital (Paris, France)
Pompidou Hospital (Paris, France)
Gallery Beaux Arts (Paris, France)
Hangaram Art Museum (Seoul, Korea)
Dongho Gallery (Seoul,)
Gallery Ceresta (Seoul)
Patio Saint-Mande City Hall (Saint-Mande. France)
Raemian Gallery (Seoul)
Manha Art Museum (Beijing, China)
Espace Macadam (Montroy, France)
Espace 60 (Montroy, France)
30 times including 89 Gallery (Paris, France)

group exhibition

1989 Noel de Ah (Gallery haute oe. Paris)
- 136bad5cf58d_ han. Daily Exchange Exhibition (Ida Art Museum, Japan)
1990 Arde La Côte d'Age (Cannes. France)
1990 Nouvel Plaque (Korean Cultural Center, Paris)
1990 Salon do Tone (Grand Palais, Paris)
1991 Euro Expansion (Montorois, France)
1992 Salon de Mai (Grand Palais. Paris)
1993 Koreans in Paris (Gallery Choi. Seoul)
1994 Gallery Area (Paris)
1996 Gallery Sylvie (Paris, Daegu)
Blood pressure biography (Paris )
1996 Korean Artist Exhibition (AFCAC, Paris)
1998 Korean Art Exhibition (Korean Cultural Center, Paris)
2000 Art 10 days ago (Montroy. France)
2001 Espace Lapperose (Paris)
2002 Gallery des Arts (Pendane. France)
Exhibition (Gallery Claude Dorval. Paris)
2004 Pine Tree Exhibition (Korean Cultural Center, Paris)
2004 Realite Nouvel (Floral Park, Paris)
2005 Pine Tree Exhibition (Korea Foundation Cultural Center. Seoul)
2006 Futier (Montparnasse Museum, Paris)
2007 Futier (Bach Le Duc. France)
2008 Dreams of a Summer Day (Gallery 89. Paris)
Heb Dowat (Gallery Grand Etèchna. Paris)
Five Senses (Espace Shank Etoile. Paris)
Personal exhibition (Gallery 89. Paris)

2005 Pine Tree Exhibition (Korea Foundation Cultural Center. Seoul)
2006 Houtier (Museum Montparnasse, Paris)
2007 Futier (Bach Le Duc. France)
2008 Dreams of a Summer Day (Gallery 89. Paris)
hiv dowat (gallery Grande Techna. Paris)
Five senses (Espace Shank Etoile. Paris)
Five People Exhibition (Gallery 89 . fly)
2009 Festival d'Ach (Espace Sanctuary. Paris)
Paris.LA.NY Former (Korean Cultural Center in L.A. USA)
2010 New Year's Exhibition (Gallery Grand et Techna, Paris)
Jae-Bul Contemporary artist Invitation Exhibition (Korean Cultural Center Poland, Poland)
2011 Student dormitory construction fundraising (OECD, Paris)

Korean Artist Exhibition (Qingdao. china)
Hibiscus-sakura biography ( Grande et Techna, UNESCO. Paris)
2012 Pine 20 years ago (Ara Gallery, Seoul)
Apple Festival City Hall. France)
Opening of the bee (gallery Sufull. Paris)
2013 sharonflower-narcissus (Gallery Europe. Paris)
SONAMU GS (gallery painter Rique, Ivry, France)
Exhibition (Gallery Pong Desach, Paris, France)
Line Art (Gallery 89, Paris, France)
Coexistence and Sharing of Japanese Cultures (Espace Behtan Poiret, Paris, France)
Country of Yangpyeong, Yangpyeong Art Museum (Yangpyeong, Korea)
SONAMU GS (gallery site Des Arts International, Paris, France)
2015 Interchange of senses (Gallery Cité des Arts, Paris, France)
2016 Find the line (Gallery Souple, Paris, France)
Realite Nouvel (Park De Floral, Vincennes, France)
SONAMU GS (Espace Seum, Seoul, Korea)
Green color Society, Seoul, Korea)

Abstract and Figurative Exhibition ( Gallery Grand et Tekna, Paris, France)
2017 Realité Nouvelle (Park de Floral, Vincennes, France)
Natural embolism (color society , Seoul, Korea)
Constriction Time Again (Center Bastille Design, Paris, France)

2018 vibrashon (Gallery Abstrak Pouget, Paris, France)
Whoo Gallery, Art Paris Lanceise Levinec (Grand Palais, Paris, France)
La Mahz O Castle Tre (Ecole des Huies, Wilgoat, France)
Art Elysee, Whoo Gallery Lansworth Levinec (Champs-Elysées, Paris, France)
Christmas colorful (gallery France and Levinec. Paris. France)
embolus (color society, Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul, Korea)
Liver (pine rotation) (Bastille Design Center, Paris, France)
Invitational Exhibition by the Arts Council of Monaco, Art Space (Monaco)
2019 Interlas, Dakshina Citra (Chennai, India)
Spring and autumn international exhibitions, Color Society (Seoul)
SONAMU , Bastille design Center (Paris, France)
2020 The 7th Cheongju International Contemporary Art Exhibition, Shema Art Museum (Cheongju, Korea)
2020 Villa de Parnell Art Show, Villa de Parnell (Yongin, Korea)
2021 Korea, Japan Print Exhibition, 89 Gallery (Paris, France)
Rainbow, Color Society ( seoul)
Embolus, Design Society ( China, Seoul)
SONAMU Exhibition, Korean Cultural Center (Paris, France)
SONAMU Exhibition, 24 Beaubourg (Paris, France)
2022 3 person exhibition, Gallery Ange (Paris, France)
Men of the Sun, Méjondah (Vacarez, France)
Black and Emoji Gallery 5 (Paris, France)
International Exhibition, Color Society (Seoul, Korea)
2023 Korean Art Festival, Saint-Mande City Hall (Saint-Mande, France)