Position Title
Master of Fine Arts Student in Studio Art
- Manetti Shrem Art Studio
- 1st Year M.F.A. Students
Juyoung Ku is a Korean American contemporary artist whose work merges Eastern and Western techniques and iconography. Growing up in rural South Korea, he was influenced by manga and arcade culture. After immigrating to the United States in the late 1990s, he encountered street art and American pop culture. Ku earned his BFA from San Jose State University and is currently pursuing an MFA at UC Davis. Integrating these cultural, artistic, and academic experiences has become the foundation for his hybrid visual language, which explores the pursuit of harmony through the integration of diverse identities within the self.
Artist Statement: Grounded in the principles of the Eastern Three Teachings — sanjiao heyi (integrative syncretism), wu wei (effortless non-force action), and yin-yang (harmonious equilibrium between complementary opposites) — my hybrid toy character paintings and sculptures bring together Eastern and Western iconography as a form of integrative syncretism. Cultural motifs are mapped across macro and micro scales, allowing hybrid characters and landscapes to form an interconnected and balanced whole while retaining their individual identities.
Selected Exhibitions
2026 Art Vinyl, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA; 2026 Art and Mass Culture, The Gallery, Belvedere Tiburon Library, Tiburon, CA; 2025 Skyline Student Art Show, Society of West-Coast Artists Gallery, San Bruno, CA; 2025 Art of Play, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA; 2025 25th Annual Juried Exhibition, Skyline College Art Gallery, San Bruno, CA; 2024 24th Annual Student Exhibition, Society of West-Coast Artists Gallery, San Bruno, CA; 2022 SJSU Art and Design Accreditation Exhibition, San Jose, CA; 2020 0.5 (solo), Herbert Sanders Gallery, San Jose
Public Art
2025 South San Francisco Historical Museum Mural, South San Francisco, CA; 2025 South San Francisco Public Library Pop-Up Mural, South San Francisco, CA; 2025 South San Francisco Cultural Fest, South San Francisco, CA; 2022 Beautify the City Project Mural, Alta Loma Park, South San Francisco, CA; 2019 Building a Better Web Mural, The Internet Archive, San Francisco, CA; 2018-2019 Lupus LA MBJAM Mural Annual Event, Hollywood, CA; 2018 Beautify the City Electrical Box Mural Project, Daly City, CA
- MFA in Studio Arts, University of California, Davis (expected 2028)
- BFA in Spatial Arts, San Jose State University, 2020
- AA in Art, Skyline College, 2018
- Hybrid Eastern/Western visual iconography
- Toy culture, character painting and sculpture
- Cross-cultural identity and public/community mural art
- Teaching Assistant, University of California, Davis, 2026–28
- Teaching Assistant, Painting/Drawing, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA, 2023–25
- Art Teacher, Picasso School of Art, Daly City, CA, 2019–20
- Workshop Leader (Digital Art), College and Career Connection, Skyline College, San Bruno, CA, 2018–19