Reflections: The Recent Works of EunKyung Choi
1. EunKyung Choi’s paintings can be simply described as everyday landscapes. She selects a scene typically encountered in daily life or likely to be encountered and translates it into a painting. In recent years, she has painted alleyways, riversides, everyday scenes in clusters of apartments, random encounters on the street, disaster sites, and people living their daily lives including laborers near her home or in other regions. She has especially focused on nightscapes from various places and natural elements such as grass, trees, and forests. This approach began following her early works, which focused on depicting objects and spaces in her living quarters, as well as around the time she created works involving personal memories and narratives, and it has continued into her present practice.
In this sense, her work diverges from genres categorized by conventional methods, such as landscape or portrait painting, or form-expressive works that emphasize somewhat distinct stylistic traits. Furthermore, it does not align with exploratory painting that rigorously investigates a specific ideology or theme or with experimental painting that attempts to deconstruct, exchange, or hybridize genres. Her work, which generally reflects the perspective of an ordinary person and unfolds along the path of a wanderer, is actually highly traditional—and, in a sense, even orthodox.
Nevertheless, within this framework of tradition (or legitimacy), her painting's paths remain open in every direction, outward and inward. It seems that her process seeks the most profound journey within this open space—a path where a scene from the world she belongs to takes the form of a painting, filtered through her eyes, body, and memories.
2. Many of her works from 2015 to 2017 capture scenes she encountered while traveling. The titles suggest mid-sized cities like Gunsan, Ansan, Yeosu, Janghang, and Mokpo, places she probably visited during residencies or trips. One example that illustrates the characteristics of her work is Night Intersection 1 (2015), part of a series of nocturnal landscapes. The scene includes a wide intersection in the center, low apartment buildings lit up in the background, a brightly lit bar with people inside and out, street trees along the sidewalk, parked and moving cars on the right side of the canvas, and a strong streetlight on the upper left. What dominates this scene is not the upright or fixed forms but rather the drifting glow of light that hazily envelops the night. This flow blurs the outlines of buildings, objects, and natural elements as it deeply penetrates them, creating a dreamy atmosphere with reddish light variations. Although this may be a scene she encountered in an unfamiliar city, it feels strange and foreign, exuding a sense of isolation heightened by the darkness and stillness of the night. As one slowly scans the space in the painting, another layer emerges—it feels cold as if it were empty. For some reason, it seems the artist is maintaining a certain distance from the sensations and emotions this scene projects. This dreamlike sense of solitude seems bound to the space, objects within the frame, and the flow of colors between them, keeping the scene one step removed from the viewers as if it were an inaccessible place. So, was this effect intentional on her part, or is it perhaps a kind of omission?
3. From 2018 to this day, Choi’s works have mostly depicted scenes around her residence rather than distant places. For ease of discussion, let us focus on Orange and Fresh Green of Passing Spring 2 (2021), Blue Sky (2021), and Person Collecting Fallen Leaves Amid Afternoon Shadows (2023). These pieces respectively portray a protest march alongside a palace wall with surrounding scenery, a worker seated on a scaffold against the sky, and a person gathering leaves in an empty lot within a park forest amid afternoon shadows. These are, indeed, exceptionally ordinary subjects. It is important to note that, regardless of the subject matter in these works, the reality of the subjects is not directly connected to the content of the painting. The presence of the worker suspended in mid-air or the protest march does not carry symbolic meaning in itself but functions more like a part of a setting akin to props in a stage background. This characteristic also appears in the titles, like “orange and fresh green of spring,” “blue sky,” and “afternoon shadows.” The focus is undoubtedly on capturing an emotional atmosphere—one that the artist sensed while viewing the scene. It is captured through the sensations imprinted upon the artist's memory and body by this very place: a place of life, its history, and its reality.
4. In Orange and Fresh Green of Passing Spring 2, you can see a protest in orange attire marching along the palace wall (Gyeongbokgung) across the street, a traffic officer in the median, and a motorcycle waiting for the traffic light at the far left. Above the palace wall is an abundant display of trees and leaves, in other words, a rich expanse of greenery. Static elements (the beige wall reflecting sunlight, the police officer, the motorcycle, and cone-shaped traffic markers) contrast and intertwine with dynamic elements (the lush greenery and the movement of protestors and flags). The intermediate objects (the shadow of the tree cast on the wall and the traffic signals such as traffic lights, signposts, and digital displays) mediate the interaction between the static and dynamic elements effectively. Although the scene represents an ordinary daily landscape, it creates a space where countless sensations and emotions intersect: memory, spring, the every day, the present, trees, hope, the mundane, and order. The artist seems to be at a point of fulfillment, standing in the position of one who reflects and questions.
5. In Blue Sky, a worker sits on an aerial platform, working against the backdrop of the sky. This piece is fundamentally realized through motion: the movement of the sky, the scaffold, and the worker. It captures the motions of nature, artificial forms, and people. The sky is formed with thick, staccato brushstrokes rarely seen in EunKyung Choi’s work, creating a flowing background. The scaffold, made of metal pipes, brings a sense of instability to the open plane as a wobbling structure (a 3D element). The momentary gestures and concentrated actions of the worker punctuate the movement across the scene, conveying a play of sensations that flow between the intensity of openness, precariousness, and motion. The artist appears fully immersed in the scene, without distance, questioning, or reflection.
6. The scene of the empty lot is complex. In the upper part of the frame, the transparent winter sunlight piercing through faded autumn leaves is dazzling. Below, a warm glow radiates from the sunlight on the ground. In the lower section of the canvas, the collapsed and exposed earth, the tree roots exposed in between, and the gnarled twisted trunks stand with rustic charm. Behind them, a forest shrouded in deep shadow forms the backdrop. Amid the tangled tree shadows, an elderly figure casually gathers fallen leaves. The painting juxtaposes the beaming sunlight with the forest's darkness, the rich colors with the ascetic and rhythmic labor, the lingering warmth within the cold air, and a fleeting brilliance amid decline. Person Collecting Fallen Leaves Amid Afternoon Shadows feels like a stage laden with myriad symbols supporting the scene. The artist gazes into the vast space, listening intently to its sound.
7. EunKyung Choi’s work focuses on uncanny sensations perceived within ordinary landscapes. This feeling draws her toward scenes of everyday life that are, in some way, conventionally disregarded—moments often overlooked as mundane or facets of familiar landscapes that usually escape attention. Whether observing unfamiliar night scenes from a distance in a foreign place, becoming absorbed in a cascade of questions posed by an urban landscape encountered by chance, being captivated by the pull of a scene from afar, or immersing herself in the symbolic forest of a fleeting landscape, she strives to share the experience of these sensations.
