Michael Joo

Michael Joo was born into a Korean family in 1966 Ithaca, New York. Joo's parents immigrated from South Korea in order to seek graduate studies at Cornell University. He lived in a small community that focused on academics. Joo grew up between New York state and Minnesota. By influence of his late father, Joo grew up “half in the lab and half on the ranch” as his father was a cattleman who studied animal breeding and his mother being in seed science. Joo studied Biology at Wesleyan University but felt disconnected with the subject. He practiced art in parallel while continuing his studies.
Eventually Joo lived and worked in Vienna, Austria, at a company that specialized in seed science. He often spent his time at the Secession exhibition hall, influenced by his artistic experience in Vienna. Joo graduated with a BFA from Washington University in St. Louis in 1989, and he later received h…