Myoung Young Choi

Exhibited by The Page Gallery

Material Oil on canvas

Dimensions 32 x 60 cm

Status Vetted

About the Work

Choi Myoung Young (b. 1941) stands as a pivotal figure and key proponent of Dansaekhwa (Korean Monochrome Painting), a representative movement within the nation's contemporary art. Situated within the formal tradition of East Asian literati painting—a practice centrally concerned with spiritual and mental cultivation—Choi has undertaken a sustained, embodied interrogation of the dynamic relationship between the pictorial plane of the canvas and the materiality of the medium. The series, Conditional Planes, commencing in the 1970s, constitutes a symbolic corpus that remains central to and profoundly informs Choi Myoung Young’s entire oeuvre. His methodological emphasis on the inherent planarity of the canvas serves to articulate the nuanced characteristics of Korean Dansaekhwa, an aesthetic often defined by a restricted palette, geometrical rigour, and minimalist linearity. Employing unconventional implements such as his fingertips, abrasive paper (sandpaper), and rollers, the artist initiates a repetitive, performative cycle of both applying and effacing pigment during the creative process. This action constitutes a self-directed inquiry into the classical tenets of the planar concept, through which Choi elucidates the processes of both the expansion and subsequent conceptual reduction inherent in the possibilities of the artistic gesture as manifested on the canvas support.

Choi Myoung Young was born in Haeju, Hwanghae Province, North Korea, in 1941, but became a refugee in the South following the outbreak of the Korean War. The displacement scattered his family, forcing the eleven-year-old to survive as a displaced person in Gunsan and Incheon while caring for his siblings. These experiences instilled in him a deep concern for the fundamental conditions of human existence, spanning suffering, survival, asceticism, and salvation. He commenced his art education under the tutelage of artist Chung Sang-Hwa at Incheon Teacher’s College, subsequently enrolling at the College of Fine Arts, Hongik University, in 1960. For Choi Myoung Young, the canvas itself served as both the fundamental condition of painting and a metaphor for the condition of life. The radical embrace of the canvas's absolute planarity thus became the essential starting point for his practice. This foundational conviction was further developed through his involvement in two pivotal groups in modern Korean art history: Origin (1963–) and the Korean Avant-Garde Group (AG, 1969–1975).

The Conditional Planes series represents a core corpus, concisely documenting the artist's decades-long journey of exploring the intrinsic question of pictorial planarity. This is achieved through the repetitive, corporeal act of employing brushes, rollers, awls, and his fingers upon the canvas support, granting the work considerable collecting value. Through this distinctive methodology, the artist not only advanced a uniquely East Asian performative aesthetic but also successfully established his own original formative language that transcends the mere trace of pigment. As a master of Dansaekhwa who sustains profound painterly inquiry, Choi Myoung Young is internationally recognised for his artistic value and remains actively engaged in the global art community to this day.

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