Minyoung Choi

Minyoung Choi enhances the surreal atmosphere by dramatically framing the edited scenes in a multi-layered structure that transcends time and space with her unique expression of light and color. As in the Dépaysement technique, countless images drawn from the artist’s experiences and psychological emotion are combined with a provocative imagination to break down the boundaries of reality. She creates her own fantasy in which the familiar and the strange overlap in a paradoxical way, arbitrarily borrowing from Eastern and Western myths, fables and common oral stories. Memories and imagination are intertwined with a sense of anxiety and chaos, leading to an ephemeral inner landscape, where space and place, human and animal, city and nature merge to form a new world. Minyoung Choi's paintings are full of imaginative energy, creating a dream-like mood through the expression of unpredictable compositions that emphasise the uniqueness of color and light. She ingeniously introduces thought-provoking elements into her images, beckoning contemplation on the complex rapport between imagination and tangible truth. By depicting herself and her surroundings that had isolated in an unfulfilled relationship in her hazy moment of unconsciousness, as an everyday life in which mysterious creatures coexist, she builds up her own fictional narrative that experiences an escape from a peaceful yet tedious life. This unfamiliarity in her works symbolises an understanding and acceptance of relationships and a balance between the inner mind and the outer environment through the interplay of darkness and light, the contrast of complementary colours or the flat spatial composition that blurs the boundary between inside and outside. Minyoung Choi lives and works in London. She received a BFA and an MFA from Seoul National University and an MFA from the Slade School of Fine Art. She has held solo exhibitions at Space K in Seoul (2024); Hive Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing (2023), Olvera Contemporary Art Centre (2017) and participated in group exhibitions at Sixi Museum in Nanjing(2023); Daejeon Creative Center of Daejeon Museum of Art (2023). Choi was awarded the Next Generation Art Prize at the 2018 Wells Art Contemporary Award and was selected for residencies at the Slade Summer School and the Olvera Contemporary Art Centre in 2017. Her works are included in the collections of the HSBC Art Collection, London, UK and X Museum, Beijing, China.