Soonae Tark graduated with a BFA from Dongduk Women’s University in Seoul, Korea. Then she went to France where she lived and studied for nearly 7 years, graduating from the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lyon, with a Diplome National d’Art Pratique and a Diplome National Superieur d’Expression Pratique(equivalent MFA) with “Les Felicitation du Jury” in 1995. She moved to New York City in 1996 where she currently lives and works.

She has been awarded twice a grant from The Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2007 and in 2001, and more than fifteen awards from National and International Competitions including First Place Award in 2005 from National Compact Competition, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA. She was the recipient of 2007 Individual Artist Initiative Award from Queens Council on the Arts, NYC. She has had 10 solo exhibitions in the United States, Korea and France and her work has been included in over 75 juried and invitational group exhibitions across The United States since 2000. The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Herald News, Louisiana Magazine-The Advocate and many others have reviewed her work. She has been featured twice in New American Paintings-Juried Exhibition in Print, The Open Studios Press, Boston, MA, including an appearance on the back cover art. Her work was featured as the Cover Art for “Making Arguments about Literature”, “Discrete Mathematical Structures,” 5th edition, The Chattanooga Times Free Press, and the catalogue for the New Jersey Center for Visual Art.

In 2007, She was awarded a Public Art commission by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the New York City School Construction Authority for Public School 262 in Queens, NY.