“Phantasmagoric Serbian landscapes in the paintings of Kayoung Choi”
Marija Curk
Intrigued by an unknown distant country and its natural beauty, which she learns about through stories and photographs, Kayoung Choi tries to immerse herself in the geologically unknown world of the Serbian highlands, analyzes it, invents and emphasizes the stone structure. With light strokes of almost transparent color, she forms a visual experience of the space of the unstable landscape of the quarry
Throughout Kayoung Choi's oeuvre, a dualism is noticeable between the realistic elements of the chosen landscape and abstract surfaces, which are nuanced with gentle transitions organically integrated into the compositional whole, or uniformly colored geometric surfaces that are like a collage sharply cut into the landscape, which gives a transcendental overtone. Characteristic examples are the compositions called "White marbles in Venčac" in which marble blocks spring from the ground, or their broken parts are carried by the wind, as if they were made of paper. In a different way, as in the painting "Lake", the author achieves transcendence by juxtaposing a filigree, almost calligraphic drawing of rocks in a light gray color on a white background and a coloristically processed surface of seemingly calm water, achieving the illusion of three-dimensionality. It seems as if the selection of a mosaic composed image, composed from several parts of different formats, was carefully chosen. By combining multiple formats with a mild demarcation and sufficiently emphasized dislocation of parts of the motif at the junctions, the author subtly indicates that imagination intervened in the creative process in order to create from virtual representations a semblance of the personally experienced, in a given moment an unattainable spaces. By inserting a smaller format with an enlarged detail of the rocks, the author expresses her admiration for the characteristics of the stone structure.
Kayoung's dualism between reality and abstraction creates the appearance of metaphysicality, while her ability to evoke personal experience through painting can captivate viewers. Her tendency to separate herself from the real landscape, especially in the paintings "White Marbles in Venčac, "Mountain", "Serbian Mountain" and "Moving Mountains", leave a phantasmagoric impression. Kayoung Choi takes us on a journey through quarries and landscapes, exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination and reminds us of the power of art to mediate the dialogue between nature and human perception.
Intrigued by an unknown distant country and its natural beauty, which she learns about through stories and photographs, Kayoung Choi tries to immerse herself in the geologically unknown world of the Serbian highlands, analyzes it, invents and emphasizes the stone structure. With light strokes of almost transparent color, she forms a visual experience of the space of the unstable landscape of the quarry
Throughout Kayoung Choi's oeuvre, a dualism is noticeable between the realistic elements of the chosen landscape and abstract surfaces, which are nuanced with gentle transitions organically integrated into the compositional whole, or uniformly colored geometric surfaces that are like a collage sharply cut into the landscape, which gives a transcendental overtone. Characteristic examples are the compositions called "White marbles in Venčac" in which marble blocks spring from the ground, or their broken parts are carried by the wind, as if they were made of paper. In a different way, as in the painting "Lake", the author achieves transcendence by juxtaposing a filigree, almost calligraphic drawing of rocks in a light gray color on a white background and a coloristically processed surface of seemingly calm water, achieving the illusion of three-dimensionality. It seems as if the selection of a mosaic composed image, composed from several parts of different formats, was carefully chosen. By combining multiple formats with a mild demarcation and sufficiently emphasized dislocation of parts of the motif at the junctions, the author subtly indicates that imagination intervened in the creative process in order to create from virtual representations a semblance of the personally experienced, in a given moment an unattainable spaces. By inserting a smaller format with an enlarged detail of the rocks, the author expresses her admiration for the characteristics of the stone structure.
Kayoung's dualism between reality and abstraction creates the appearance of metaphysicality, while her ability to evoke personal experience through painting can captivate viewers. Her tendency to separate herself from the real landscape, especially in the paintings "White Marbles in Venčac, "Mountain", "Serbian Mountain" and "Moving Mountains", leave a phantasmagoric impression. Kayoung Choi takes us on a journey through quarries and landscapes, exploring the boundaries between reality and imagination and reminds us of the power of art to mediate the dialogue between nature and human perception.