3. Einzelausstellung, Galerie Kwan Hoon, Seoul, 1994

Exhibition by JeongMoon Choi toward
'history to take off'
Mi-Sook Song
(Art historian, Art critic, Professor of Sungshin Woman's University)

JeongMoon Choi, graduated from the graduate school of Sungshin Woman's University, is going to open the 3rd One-man Exhibition. Engaged in the activity of exhibitions actively in the exhibition of minior group for the years, she has continued the effect for the restoration of shape and representation beginning to emerge in Korean artistic circles since the end of the 1980's, namely, the artistic work with a tendency of subjective "Neo-Expressionism" for more then 5years from the graduate school days to the present.

This year burning, thick and intense colors that she has broken fresh land with materials which look somewhat refined but employ chiefly oxidized steel, the running touches and intuitive stroke of the brush practically using acrylic paints, large geometrical forms defined by thick outlines and the running touches and lines large and small on the outlines are the instantaneous expressions of heated and innundated internal emotions of her own. Her large and bold paintings are filling the space of exhibition, as if it were narrow and small, in conformity with these manifestations.

The elements of shape frequently represented in her works - ranging from the pillar of the temple in the ancient Greek and Roman empires, trees or the blazing pillar, pyramid or wooden coffin to the vaulting horse - are the symbols of "buried history" that she herself has to confront and take off as she set on her own accord. Here, stick, knife, etc which almost become object are probably the tools that support her and relieve her of the burden of the historic weight. The dark and ambiguous shapes processed as silhouettes are her own pictures as the titles of her works suggest, such as "jumping", "climbing", "in history", "the place where i am standing", "watching", and the like. That is to say, JeongMoon Choi attempts to confirm the temporary and spatial existence of the point of time, her own present age, by selecting as the themes of her works the history of her external environment that she has to confront, but overcome and transcend through her works - the history includes the history of the distant past of the time of immemorial that she cannot help picturing in her own imagination as well as that of her own life. The oxidized iron or steel employed as the main media of artistic representation here tend to respond and change sensitively to external resistance such as or time, in which sense the media are the materials consistent with the themes of her works.

The architectural motive frequently represented on her paintings, especially the pillar, is the one which is cited from the ancient history of art and the element with Anselm Kiefer, the master of German neo-expressionism having an influence chiefly on young unknown painters of the Korean artist's world one day, frequently cited in his historic landscape painting. Kiefer's influences find expression in collage objects, dark and intense atmosphere and the bold scale and composition.

Recently, her works produced this year show the changes different from those before. It is shown that the changes are attributed to the fact that her attention, first of all is transformed from the instantaneous manifestations of emotions, to the objective compositon of the picture. She has a good command of the bold stroke of the brush as used to be, but the backgroung has become fairly brighter than before. As the application of the palette is diversified, it has broken away from the almost consistent composition of the oxidized iron or steel generally used before. The harmony of color contrast, the contrast of complementary colors such as red and green, blue and yellow, and the definition of the black and white lines of the brush shows that her emotions have matured fairly by exploiting the smooth composition on the picture.

Nobody knows how JeongMoon Choi's works can develop in the future, but it is clear that the theme of "History to take off" continued by her up to now will remain the proposition she must resolve without change. An attempt is made to forecast that the theme will be connected to how the proposition will proceed to be represented as the objective "fact" and "material object". At any rate, it can be expected if we guess it though the enthusiasm and inborn talent of an intemperate extent toword her up-to-now work.

Jumping-again, 244 x 230cm, Mischtechnik auf Leinwand, 1994 (oben links)
Nine Pieces of Column, 244 x 230cm, Mischtechnik auf Leinwand, 1994 (oben rechts)
Landscape- Red Column, 600 x 220cm, Mischtechnikm auf Leinwand, 1994 (mitte)
A Water Column & A Sword, 260 x 162cm, Mischtechnik auf Leinwand, 1994 (unten)

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