Byung Hoon Choi “Water Meditation”

Friedman Benda

poster for Byung Hoon Choi “Water Meditation”

This event has ended.

Friedman Benda presents Water Meditation, Byung Hoon Choi’s second solo exhibition in New York. For over 35 years, the Korean artist has built a unique oeuvre drawing on Zen Buddhist ideologies of introspection and Taoist notions of balance. Known for his play between natural and fabricated elements, he sets rough beside polished, old against new. Choi consistently uses the word “afterimage” in titling his work in reference to what he calls ” an imaginary and mystical encounter with a previous world not yet experienced.” He returns with new works in two mediums-traditional lacquer and basalt-centered on the theme of water.

This exploration of lacquer is a first for Choi. Inspired by his Korean heritage, he draws on traditional craftsmanship in East Asia, where lacquer techniques have been widely practiced for over 2,000 years. In his experimentation, Choi mixes pigment into the lacquer, especially apparent in the red undertones of afterimage of beginning 016-459. The smoothly polished lacquer reflects like liquid surfaces, a metaphysical ode to the exhibition’s title. Still water fills a number of the larger pieces, a more literal leitmotif.

Juxtaposing the resting water of the lacquer works, the fountains’ running water evokes the notion of a moving, living sculpture. The fountains represent a progression of Choi’s work in basalt, growing vertically, resembling a scholar’s rock or a naturally grown accumulation. On a more intimate scale than before, new seating and a table balance the rounded shapes of the lacquer works. Emphasizing the rougher parts of the stone, Choi is seen exploring the affinity of polished basalt as allegorical liquid surfaces.

A pioneer of modern Korean craft, Byung Hoon Choi’s work is both aesthetic and functional, employing numerous natural materials such as wood, clay, granite and natural stone to create minimal furniture that is seen as both object and art. Choi’s work is held in numerous collections throughout Korea, including the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Korean Culture and Art Foundation; abroad his work can be seen in the permanent collection of the Vitra Design Museum, Weil am Rhein; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris. In 1989 he was given the annual award from the Korean Craft Council and in 2007 he received Grand Prize at the Seoul Living Design Fair. He is currently a Professor at the College of Fine Arts at Hongik University in Seoul.

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Schedule

from November 09, 2016 to December 17, 2016

Opening Reception on 2016-11-09 from 18:00 to 20:00

Artist(s)

Byung Hoon Choi

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