Jeongyun Choi

ⓒ 2023. GALLERY PALZO. All rights reserved.

Artist Jeongyun Choi has been concentrating on reimanaging(reinterpreting) the essential properties of the sword, which has been a symbol of power and a historical reality of human desire in the Orient since ancient times, and has tried to verbalize the futile abstract reality ideological substance of human desire into a visual object.

최정윤, The flesh of passage(시간의 살), 2023, Salt, Mixed media and Stainless Steel, h300 x w8.5~d5cm(each), Variable installation ⓒ 2023. GALLERY PALZO. All rights reserved.

The initial material he chose was ceramic, but he felt that the methodological or conceptual approach to reinterpreting the bronze sword had limitation in expanding the universal form. After that, through the conversion of salt as a material, he is currently attempting a metaphorical approach as well as a change in form through an organism called a flower.

최정윤, The flesh of passage(시간의 살), 2023, Thread, Wood. Resin, Urethane and Stainless Steel, h178~194 x w11~23 x d11~23cm, Variable installation ⓒ 2023. Jeongyun Choi. All rights reserved.

He said, ‘Although the sword and the flower seem to be different from each other, the direct and universal properties shown in the form of the sword and the essential desire skillfully hidden in the splendor of the flower seem to penetrate each other. Therefore, it can be said that it is a work that has conceptual similarities in terms of content, although a new format is being converted.’

최정윤, The flesh of passage(시간의 살), 2022, Thread. Wood. Resin and Stainless Steel, 205 x 34.5 x 34.5cm ⓒ 2022. Jeongyun Choi. All rights reserved.

Canvas work is a visual linguization of the phenomenon of human desire hidden under the split configuration of the white canvas by composing the phenomena of human society intertwined in the countless links of life with threads of various colors.

최정윤, The flesh of passage(시간의 살), 2023, Thread and Acrylic on canvas, 117 x 92.5cm ⓒ 2023. Jeongyun Choi. All rights reserved

Artist Statement:

Historically in Asia, a sword has been associated with human desire, being an auspicious object belonging to an aristocrat. Throughout history, it has become an icon of power. During the past 10 years, I have endeavored to analyze the historical context of the sword in human civilization. My works have been efforts to reveal the futility of human desires through the manifestation of swords in various visual vocabularies.

I started my process of converting the materiality of the sword into historical context by using ceramics. Ceramics was an ideal vehicle for formal expressions and practices, however I faced the limitation in transcending the text and context of a sword using this medium. I then turned to salt, which charmed me with its visual manifestation of its sensual materiality. The symbolic aspect also fascinated me; salt has symbolic images of wealth, power, religiousness, and life that are parallel to the nature of human desires.

After ten year of using the sword as a subject matter, I search for new ideas and changes. I am now pursuing formal changes and metaphorical expressions using the form of flowers. To me, a flower as a sexual organ means the origin of a life and is a core of desires hidden under its brilliance. In that aspect, a flower and sword are sharing a similar nature within them. I can therefore describe that the conceptual aspect of my most recent work is similar to that of my past works.

In order to avoid conventional images that using representational objects might cause and hence compromise metaphorical expressions within them, I used my imagination to create the forms. In other words, my new work is a variation of expressing human desires and their futility, borrowing forms of imaginary flowers.

Jeongyun Choi, 2014

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