International exchange in contemporary art increased dramatically in the 1990s.  Sculpture in Asia benefitted greatly and has steadily advanced since.  Within this global movement, Korean sculptor Sung Donghun has manifested his own individuality through his artworks.  In the catalogue titled Nomadism of Brain, published in conjunction with his solo exhibition in 2009, Sung revealed his thoughts on nomadism.  He believes that nomadism means thinking without being bound by any kind of form and perception, and he has actively engaged in sculpture in diverse societies with mixed cultures.  Thus, nomadism for Sung not only serves as a foundation for his ideas but is a specific means for his work.  A good example is Into Brain, a typical sculpture that reflects Sung’s consciousness.  A skull of cement and stainless steel splits open to reveal what seems to be a network of neural circuitry inside that expresses how humans receive diverse stimuli from outside and process them.  Sung’s sculptures are quite singular in that he concentrates enormously on their insides.  Many of his works are made to open and close, and he put symbolic things inside.  The opening and closing of his sculptures makes their form and the meaning inside the form all the richer.  The appearance of his sculpture from a distance is completely different from that when one is close.

Sung became famous in the Korean art world in the 1990s with his Don Quixote series.  He broke away from the Don Quixote series in 1999, effectively breaking his mold and engaging in diverse forms of sculpture.  It was actually already in the 1990s that Sung began to produce different types of works that express his thoughts about politics, society, and history, and the burdens and responsibilities of an artist toward society.  However, he had done the Don Quixote series so extensively that Sung was widely misperceived as having done only that and nothing else.  Even so, Sung’s Don Quixote series is extremely varied in both form and materials used.  Korean art critics have already long analyzed and accurately assessed Sung’s Don Quixote series, so I will concentrate on how the Don Quixote series in his early years has influenced his later works from an artistic perspective.  The overall formativeness and dignity of these works impart a feeling of power to viewers and seem to fill Sung’s sculptures with dynamic energy.  Even his works about sex manifest energy, vitality, and the basic instinct that humans have as living things.