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CHOI, JEONG-HWA (KOREA,B. 1961)

preserve art in a constantly changing and decaying world
Choi, Jeong Hwa, Miss Korea (1994)
Latex, lights, molded pigs heads, 8 pieces and mother of pearl inlay.
Approx. 300cmx 300cm.

PRACTICE
TECHNIQUES
Motivated by the plastic paradise of Korean sub-culture of pop markets and consumer artifice, Choi, Jeong Hwa uses a wide range of mediums, including video screens, modelled plastic animals, real and fake food, lights and wires. Inspired by the chaotic, teeming, local open-air markets, his work uses kitsch, theatrical, consumer products, the mass produced merchandise, the gaudy bric-a-brac of the twenty-first century.

POSTMODERN
WORLD
Korea has been undergoing a period of swift change and development, a rapid push of modernisation with cheap, hastily manufactured goods. Using air, rotting food and cheap plastic, the artist is deliberately provocative, commenting upon a culture of superficial fabrication in Korea. He also challenges the attempts made by museums to preserve art in a world that is constantly changing and decaying.

ARTWORKS
Super flower (1995)
A large plastic balloon sculpture in the shape of a flower that inflates to become taut in full bloom and withers as it deflates. It is a fake pretending to be natural and fragile (like the plastic displays of food in many cafes).

About being irritated The Death of Robot (1995)
Fabric air compressor oil pressure equipment movement timer Cd player with speakers.

Plastic Happiness (1995)
Fabric, air compressor, Pigs

AUDIENCE
Choi Jeong Hwa’s renders ‘the invisible, visible’ by choosing familiar objects to elevate to ‘High Art. The work is ambiguous in that the satiric, parody of both society and the artworld that occurs is one of the many layers of meaning possible.

His work touches a broad audience because the fun and ‘absurdist’ quality of the sculptures appeals on a fundamental level (rather like popular cartoon).

The artist calls himself ‘an interferer’, disturbing the gap between high and popular cultures.

Exhibitions
His professional career, which began in 1998 when he took part in the exhibition Seamless at the De Appel Gallery in Amsterdam, has continued to be busy.

Slowness Speed at the National Gallery of Victory in Melbourne (1999), Let's Entertain at the Centre Pompidou in Paris (2000), Lunapark in Stuttgart (2001), Happy Together at the Kagoshima Open Air Museum (2002). He has held solo exhibitions at the twenty-sixth São Paulo Bienal (1998), the Yokohama Triennial (2001), the Gwangju Biennal (Corea, 2001), the Lyon Biennial (2003) and the Liverpool Biennial (2004). Choi, Jeong Hwa Flower Tree (2004) Plastic
Installed in the garden de la Saline Royale d’Arc et Senans.

References

www.artnet.com
Von Ziegesar,P., Contemporary art in Asia, Traditions /Tensions.

the-artists.us
Biography and details of the artist.

query.nytimes.com

Zimmer, W. Art; Korea Inventive, Intricate Meticulous, The New York Times, April 28, 2006. Review of contemporary Korean art including Choi Jeong Hwa, Yyun-Ki Park, and Hong Joo Kim.
Art Asia Pacific No. 15 1997, p21 Choi Jeong Hwa Plastic Happiness ( 1995)
Choi Jeong Hwa Artificial Evolution 1995 (Balloon of trees and flowers)
Miss Korea (1994) (Pigs and Plastic) p36, Art Asia Pacific Vol 3. No. 2 1996
Ahn, S. Choi, Jeong Hwa, The Second Asia Pacific Triennial 1996, Queensland Art Gallery Catalogue, 1996, p62.
Kim Hyun-do, The Momentum of Contemporary Korean Visual Art,
Choi Jeong Hwa, Art Asia Pacific Vol. 3 No.3, 1996, p45
Choi, Jeong Hwa, Fruit Tree ( 2001) International Triennale of Contemporary Art, Yokohama.