이상원

Introduction

Choi Young-wook, who creates works with the theme of moon jars, is well-known for blending Korean traditional culture with modern expression. His works reinterpret the traditional ceramic moon jar with a contemporary perspective, encapsulating diverse emotions and beauty. Choi Young-wook explores the history and spiritual values of Korea through the form and symbolism of moon jars. His works present a new perspective through the convergence of tradition and modernity, while also aiming to widely promote the beauty of Korean culture. Furthermore, Choi Young-wook maximizes the aesthetic value of moon jars based on unique color schemes and sculptural characteristics. His artworks, which interpret Korean tradition in a modern context, are beloved both domestically and internationally.

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Artist's Note

My work visualises memories into images and it becomes the medium of communication. In the course of trying to 

discover my own 'self', the self becomes aware of the 'relationship' with others, bringing about a sense of 'communication'. People know me as the artist who paints moon-jars. Actually, I am not just painting moon-jars, but I am telling you my own aspiration to want to live like the moon-jars. I have unravelled my own stories inside them and also the general attributes of human beings. The work ‘Karma’ has a focal meaning in the lines of the painting. The lines don’t mean the realistic cracks on the surface of the porcelain but they are the paths upon our life journey. They crack and separate and meet again, they seem alike and different at the same time, but then they unify as one in the end. I blew the memories into them so that they don’t remain as just simple porcelains but they can become the memory of ours. Multiples of lines and traces are encrypted messages beyond time and space and we decipher the codes groping in the dark of the realm of remembrance. Recall one of your own memories while looking at my paintings and lead yourselves into them. We would be encountering inside of them. I painted my own memories but they are also the stories of all of us.