Choi Jeong Hwa: “I help you to feel and you find the art yourself."

Known for his creative and breathtaking re-use of mass-produced plastics and synthetics in large scale art installations, Choi Jeong Hwa makes art that is exuberant, colorful and joyful while provoking reflections upon social consumption and harmony in life. (+)

Choi is based in Seoul and works across many disciplines – art, graphic design, industrial design and architecture – using a broad range of media including video, molded plastic, shopping trolleys, real and fake food, lights, wires and objects that are bought from the local community where his work will be exhibited. "[These objects] were made in Vietnam, Israel, China, Pakistan, the whole world," he says. "For me, 'made in Korea' means think globally, act locally." (+)

But, he is mostly known for successfully raising the status of the art made of waste -- which is often regarded just as "craft"/DIY object -- up to the top best mainstream visual arts scenes. His art practice is also appreciated for commenting on the privileged environment of art institutions and questioning the prized status of artworks amidst a consumer-frenzied world with color and pleasure. (+)

In addition, his art work shows the positive power of inventiveness to transform urban areas with diminishing natural aesthetic. In 2008, Choi Jeong Hwa surprised the world with an incredibly large and colorful art installation made of discarded plastic, which were hanged from the structure of the 2008 Happy Happy Seoul Design Olympic Stadium at the gigantic Jamsil Sports Complex. Whether or not it is the absolute biggest eco art installation, there's no denying that the Happy Happy is still impressive even for today standards — it took 488 dump trucks, 40 days, 1,763,360 pieces of plastic, and some 3,600 people, to create. By "garbage art" standards, it is massive. Even retail chains and banks around the city pitched in and offered collection centers at their locations. (+)

Choi has recently worked in oversized floral-form inflatables, including lotus blossoms. His art work is colorful, playful, whimsical, cheerful, and, as paradoxical as it may sound, the artificial look of plastic objects, in Choi Jeong Hwa's hands, are transformed in art work honoring the beauty of nature.

In an interview, Choi was quite revealing of himself -- and the mind behind an art work that is sustainable -- when he was asked about one example of how his obsession with plastic and garbage has paid off. He said:

"In 2009, at the Seoul Design Olympiad, I gathered the trash that got thrown away by the 10 million people in attendance and hung it in Jamsil Stadium. The point was to see the difference between trash and art and ask the questions: What makes us feel emotion and affection? Who is to decide what’s worthy and what’s not? The whole stadium was covered with trash, but it became beautiful and sparkly and memorable when light was projected on it. Now I am doing that all over the globe. It’s basically a campaign that emphasizes working with worthless materials. I like doing things outside of art museums. I dislike the whole pay system of museums and prefer working and interacting with people outside. For example, I recently completed a project in which people tied massive amounts of balloons to the outside of a museum in Chile. I love participatory projects like that." (+)

Lyon

the artist.