Jae K. Ko

Born in Korea, Jae Ko grew up in Tokyo, Japan, and received her BFA from Wako University. Moving to the United States, she attended the Maryland Institute College of Art where she received an MFA. Settling near Washington, DC, Ko’s work steadily gained the attention of curators and galleries in the city and region. Receiving Pollock-Krasner grant in 2002 brought even more attention. The Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden added a wall piece to its permanent collection and Marsha Mateyka Gallery began exhibiting her work in its stable of prominent artists. Soon enough, with her works in several major public and private collections, The Phillips Collection in Washington, DC mounted Ko’s installation of “Force of Nature” in 2012. The same year, Ko was awarded the prestigious ‘Anonymous Was A Woman’ art award along with eleven other prominent American artists. In 2015, Grounds For Sculpture partnered with Ko to create a large scale wall relief in the East Gallery, spanning 80 feet, titled “Shiro”, inspired by Ko’s travels to Alaska and seeing the inner structures of glaciers.

Ko’s work has been shown internationally, including at the Museum Rijswijk, CODA Apeldoorn, and at Galerie De Rijk, The Hague, Netherlands; Ludwig Museum, Koblenz, Germany; and galleries Q and Sora in Tokyo, Japan. In this country, Ko’s work has been shown at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Ridgefield, CT; Braunstein/Quay Gallery, San Francisco, CA; and the Katzen Arts Center, American University Museum, and Marsha Mateyka Gallery, both Washington, DC. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Washington Convention Center, all in Washington, D.C.