Artist
Mi-Young Choi
Mi-Young Choi (최미영) is a painter who draws abstract colours and shapes from familiar things with unfamiliar insight. Artist interest is close to aspects of our daily lives, the subject shifts to the artist’s space, directly and indirectly reinterpreting the subject and expanding its meaning beyond a fixed framework.
Q1. What inspires the artist?
Mi-Young is inspired by the sky, which is central to her recent work. While sky contemplation has a long history, it's rare for the sky itself to be the subject of art. She explores thoughts and emotions through sky-related elements, narrating stories of disappearance, renewal, and evolution over time. Like pausing to contemplate the sky, she hopes to provoke discussions on life's meanings through overlooked everyday elements.
Q2. What does being a female artist mean?
Mi-Young thinks that being a female artist has shaped the way she reflects on the challenges of living and working as an artist, especially as she has grown older during her years of practice. She believes that while the decision to live and work as an artist leads to a journey full of obstacles, setbacks, and self-doubt for any individual, her gender influences her creative process in a unique way. She embraces the female aspects of her nature as she works, though she has not dwelled on this influence to any great length.
Q3. How does Korean culture influence artist's art?
Mi-Young explains that Korean culture in modern times has so much variety and colour. It can quickly absorb external influences and reinterpret them in its own unique way. However, underneath this surface, there remains a foundation of ancient wisdoms, with concepts such as ‘Ying and Yang’, moderation, spiritual freedom, and the meditative all retaining a presence. She often tries to relate aspects of social issues and current affairs with metaphorical use of forms and color. The process of working this way becomes almost meditative, where she lets instinct, chance, and reason all play a role in the evolution of a final piece.
Q4. Who are the female artist role models, and why?
Mi-Young recalls that after deciding to study to become an artist and arriving at Goldsmiths, she looked up female artists in the college library, including the "Women's Art Library." She soon realised that there weren't as many references available compared to male artists. Though she has likely been more influenced by certain male role models, Mi-Young Choi has many female role models. Choosing particular ones over others is difficult, but to list some key ones, she mentions Georgia O'Keeffe, Agnes Martin, Alice Neel, Claudette Johnson, Jenny Saville, Marlene Dumas, Louise Bourgeois, Marina Abramović, Mona Hatoum, and Julie Mehretu. Mi-Young Choi believes all these artists have stood firmly amongst their contemporaries, opening unique perspectives, constantly observing, and developing to find and keep their own distinct voices.
Q5. What projects are currently being worked on?
Mi-Young Choi spent much of the last year preparing for a show in Korea that focused on the concept of the sky and associated metaphorical motifs. With that project completed, she is now exploring a new direction that extends the gestural aspects of her previous work into minimal, figurative pieces that suggest the human form and personal and social interactions. Mi-Young pleased with the initial results and excited to find out where this path leads her.
Night Garden 9 - Always Here , 2024
Oil on linen, 37 x 47 cm
For Mi-Young, painting is a journey of self-discovery and a tool for sharing her thoughts and emotions about who she is. It allows her to reach beyond her physical location. Mi-Young's practice exists between the world and her inner self, often involving an anxious, questioning dialogue. She resists and embraces change, consequently her creative process evolves over a period of time. Inspired by current events and history, Mi-Young's work often incorporates ambiguity and loose metaphors, leaving room for broad interpretation. Titles of her work play a crucial role in shaping the viewer's understanding of her work. Her paintings explore the phenomenon of colour and paints, with skies as a recurring motif intertwined with metaphorical elements like trees.