Wook-kyung Choi (1940–1985) was a Korean Abstract Expressionist painter.[1] She was born in Seoul, South Korea in 1940.[2] Choi attended Seoul National University, and then immigrated to the United States in 1964 where she studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art and the Brooklyn Museum Art School. She acted as a transmitter of Korean Informel Art to The United States, a form of painting characterized by non-geometrical abstraction.[3] This artistic movement was interpreted by many as a rebellion against the Korean state-led National Art Exhibition System (gukjeon), which preferred Academic Realism as its method of expression.[4] During her career, she also studied and exhibited influences from other Abstract Expressionist artists such as Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, and Mark Rothko.
Wook-kyung Choi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 1940 Seoul, South Korea |
| Died | 1985 (aged 44–45) Seoul, South Korea |
| Known for | painter |
| Movement | Abstract Expressionism |
In 1979 Choi permanently returned to South Korea where she taught at Yeungnam University and Duksung Women's University.[5][6] Choi died in 1985 at the age of 45[7] in Seoul.[6]
In 1987, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA) held a retrospective exhibit of Choi's work.[7] In 2005, the Kukje Gallery in Seoul posthumously presented her art to the Korean public.[8] The Kukje Gallery held another solo exhibition in 2016 focused on Choi's time in The U.S. titled the American Years 1960s–70s.[9][10] In 2021, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art held another exhibition of Choi's work entitled Wook-kyung Choi, Alice’s Cat.[11]
Wook-kyung Choi's work was included in the 2021 exhibition Women in Abstraction at the Centre Pompidou.[12] In 2023, Choi's art was included in the exhibition Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction 1940-1970 at the Whitechapel Gallery in London.[13]
References
edit- ^ Roberts-Komireddi, Cleo (2 March 2023). "10 Underrecognized Women Artists Who Shaped Abstract Expressionism Internationally". Artsy. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Wook-Kyung Choi". The RAiR Foundation. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ Smith, Laura Arenas (March 16, 2023). Action, Gesture, Paint: Women Artists and Global Abstraction. Whitechapel Gallery. p. 28. ISBN 9780854883134.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) - ^ Kwon, Haengga (2016). "Academic Realism, Korean". The Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism.
- ^ Sutton, Kate. "Kate Sutton on Wook-kyung Choi". Art Forum. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Wook-kyung Choi". AWARE Women artists / Femmes artistes. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ a b "Wook-kyung Choi Among Artsy's Women Who Shaped Abstract Expression". Cranbrook Academy of Art. 15 March 2023. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Wook-kyung Choi: A Retrospective - Paintings 1963-1985". Asia Art Archive. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Forgotten abstract painter Choi Wook-kyung revisited". The Korea Times. 12 September 2016. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ Thorne, Harry (27 September 2016). "Wook-Kyung Choi". Frieze. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ "Wook-kyung Choi, Alice's Cat" (PDF). MMCA. Retrieved 9 May 2023.
- ^ Women in abstraction. London : New York, New York: Thames & Hudson Ltd. ; Thames & Hudson Inc. 2021. p. 170. ISBN 978-0500094372.
- ^ "Action, Gesture, Paint". Whitechapel Gallery. Retrieved 9 May 2023.