Choi, Jung-Woo has long explored language and perception through object installations in the use of heavy-weight masses such as steel and bronze. His first solo exhibition “Muttering” (2005) had a massive black stainless steel installation centerpiece standing vertically in an exhibit space, filling most of it, touching the celling and floor. It was the intention of the artist for viewers to realize the reflection of the piece they see off the stainless steel ceiling or floor is actually shaped like a letter, and read it. This was his way of expressing the limitations of communication in modern society through his installation. In two of his later exhibitions as well as in “The Depth of Perception” (2006) exhibit, Choi contemplated the categories of nonquantifiable values and attempted to show the coexistence of immeasurable values by paradoxically using a value assessing object like a scale and focusing on the idea that our perception and subsequent valuation of things are relative to each other. Choi has been continually expressing the discrepancies of perception and humankind’s perpetual need to possess things of value which cannot be assessed, through photographic work and installations that use the sturdiness and massive nature of metal as a medium.
In his new solo exhibition “8 Hours” Choi steps away from his usual interest in perception and the essence of value, and focuses his attention on the self immersed in everyday routine and the surrounding relationships. Choi divides 24 hours of a day into 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of labor, and 8 hours of spare time. Having been equally given 24 hours in a day, we each spend it as individualistic selves, depending on our prescribed social status and roles. Related to this, he questions the self to self- evaluate how much of that time is spent living as one’s true self. For this exhibition, Choi has waste oil continually flowing through a set path at a constant speed, circulating over the work surface. The piece embodies the artist’s experience of a work day as a welder, an autobiographic representation of sorts of his 8 hours spent repeatedly performing an assigned job within a given space. To Choi, true contemplation of the self is not only being completely and utterly independent, but is achieved through a series of self-objectifying processes. The image of one’s back is a sight for others, and cannot be viewed by the person him or herself. Therefore to the artist, viewing his own back is a way of keeping a set distance from himself, as well as being an alternate avenue of self-investigation. The steel cylindrical case of one of the installations blocks the frontal view of those who walk into it, as well as of the figures themselves, revealing only their backs to the viewers. Upon entering this blinding and rather confined space, the viewer is allowed to experience the weight of the 8 hours prescribed and demanded by labor, as well as the feeling of being stripped of individual free will. Thus, the time and space of isolation transforms into an opportunity to entirely concentrate on one’s self, a place of elemental self-contemplation.
Within the cyclical environment of circulation and repetitiveness, the artist's self-contemplation that stems from the introspection of how he spends his day will eventually lead to a fixed identity. And through this, Choi emphasizes that it is possible to recognize the segmented self-image and cessation of communication resulting from daily life, while simultaneously attaining the mature discernment of independence that originates from the internal self.
- Young-Ok Chae, Laurence Geoffreys, Ltd.
“I wanted to see the side of me that lies behind my back. I felt that this perspective grants you a certain distance from yourself thus allowing you to better observe and contemplate objects. Looking at my back means viewing not only myself, but also seeing my person as seen through the eyes of others. Anyone walking into a dark, enclosed space for the first time will feel uneasy and anxious. Anxiety is an emotion that is aroused when faced with the unfamiliar and the unknown. But as you settle into the darkness, the nervousness slowly drips away, and the space transforms into one of introspection…then suddenly in the midst of my aloneness, I ponder “Who am I? People secretly need to feel the aloneness, the one that began with the severing of the umbilical cord.”
- From the Artist’s Notes
*image (left)
© Jung Woo Choi
courtesy of the artist and SongEun ArtCube
