Choi Soo Jung Korea, b. 1977

Choi Soo Jung attempts to experiment the conditions of traditional painting and seek pictorial ways to break limits beyond the canvas. She has been working to explore the memory and narrative that could be seen beyond the surface through the painting, which is a physical image on the surface, and between painting and space, and the image that activates in narratives.

Choi focuses on the physicality of creating and revealing images, and comprehensively explores the physical distance and psychological distance between the artist and the painting, and the distance that occurs in the relationship between the work and the audience. By applying tactile effects using sewing thread to the surface of a painting where working time is physically accumulated, the artist reveals images and spaces beyond the limits of the surface. In her recent works, Choi took a new approach on the scenery re-encoded on the basis of the RGB color mechanism. It still has the appearance of the original image while it is seen as three-dimensional causing an optical illusion in which the outlines are smudged. Applying her unique expression, Choi gradually extends the distance between the observed object and the flat canvas. She focuses on the senses and states of her mind while painting, and the essence of the painting she perceives. Her brush strokes create a volume over the surface of the canvas and bring a formative order and rhythm implying light beyond the canvas.

Choi Soo Jung lives and works in Seoul, Korea. She received a BFA from Hongik University in Korea and MFA at Seoul National University in Korea and Glasgow School of Art in UK. She has held solo exhibitions at BOAN1942 (2019), Amado Art Space (2015), Kuenstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2010), Insa Art Space (2007). She participated in group exhibitions at National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (2024, 2015), Seoul Museum of Art (2018, 2014), Gwangju Museum of Art (2014), Sehwa Museum of Art (2020), Seoul National University Museum of Art (2020, 2015), HITE Collection (2017) in Korea. She was selected as The 11th Chongkundang Yesuljisang in 2024. Her works are included in the collections of Seoul National University Museum of Art, Moran Museum of Art in Korea.