(1943- )
CHOI Byungso (b.1943) employs a unique methodology of transforming substance materiality through the erasure of newspaper content by repetitive and executive mark-making with ballpoint pen and pencil, a process he has continued for over forty years. Choi holds a very special position in Korea’s contemporary art world, for the intellectuality and engagement found within his works fall in line with the monochrome paintings that dominated the Korean art scene in the ‘70s. His participation in major Korean monochrome art exhibitions, including A Facet of Contemporary Korean Art (Tokyo Central Art Museum, 1977), École de Seoul (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon 1976-79) and Korea’s Modern Paintings (National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Gwacheon, 2012), brought him to be designated as a member of the monochrome movement, but that is only a fragmentary categorization.
Earlier works, such as an arrangement of iron pins on the floor with one hanging from the ceiling; decaying mackerel within the exhibition space; reading photographs as text, and more, lay their roots in the Korean experimental art movement. Alongside Park Hyun-gi and Lee Kang-so, Choi was a featured artist in 1974’s Experimental Korean Art Exhibition; he also led Daegu Contemporary Art Fair for 5 years, and belonged to the 35/128 Group, a powerhouse of Korea’s avant-garde movement. In his work Untitled (Bird) (1975) (previously exhibited at ARARIO GALLERY Cheonan), Choi examines the relationship between image and language by listing six words, ‘sky, cloud, wind, birds, flying, meeting,’ beside a National Geographic photo of two birds; this, too, fits well into the context of Korean experimental art.
CHOI Byungso ‘s materials (paper, newspaper, magazines, banknotes, airplane tickets, clothes hangers, makeup samples, etc.) are everyday objects found close at hand. His pens and pencils of choice are more writing utensil than art material. However, unlike other conceptual work emphasizing these materials as objet, Choi’s artwork seeks to produce a new materiality through motions repeated to excess. The artist joined Park Seo-bo, Yoon Hyung-geun, Lee Kang-so, Lee Dong-youb, Chung Sang-hwa, Chung Chang-sup, and Ha Chong-hyun as a representative of Korean monochrome art in Europe’s first Dansaekhwa exhibition, KM9346: Corée-Morbihan 9,346km, at Domaine de Kerguéhennec. His solo exhibitions at the Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Saint- Étienne, France, 2016) and Galerie Maria Lund (Paris, France, 2016) followed with success.
Solo Exhibitions
2016 Musse d'art moderne saint etienne, saint etienne, France
2015 ARARIO GALLERY I Seoul, Seoul, Korea
2012 Gallery IBU, Paris, France
P&C Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2011 Gallery ASO, Daegu, Korea
Daegu Culture & Arts Center, Daegu, Korea
2009 Gallery 604, Busan, Korea
2008 Gaain Gallery, Seoul; Bongsan Culture Center, Daegu, Korea
2006 Gallery M, Daegu, Korea
2005 Gallery IBU, Paris, France
2003 CI-GONG Gallery, Daegu, Korea
2002 Space 129, Daegu, Korea
1997 CI-GONG Gallery, Daegu, Korea
1979 Muramatsu Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
1978 Seoul Gallery, Seoul, Korea
1975 City Library Gallery, Daegu, Korea
Group Exhibitions
2018 Renegades in resistance and challenge, Daegu Museum of Art, Daegu, Korea
2016 Dansaekhwa, l’aventure du monochrome en Corée, des années 70 à nos jours,
Domaine de Kerguehennec, Kerguehennec, France
2015 Korea Tommorrow 2015, Sungkok Museum, Seoul, Korea
The Sound of Things, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art,Gwacheon, Korea
2014 Between the Lines, ARARIO GALLERY I Cheonan, Cheonan, Korea
2012 Korean Monochrome Painting II, Gonggan Purple, Paju, Korea
2011 Qi is full, Daegu Art Museum Daegu, Korea
LEE In-Seong Art Award Winner’s exhibition, Daegu Culture & Arts Center,Daegu, Korea
2009 5 Artists, Aranya, Daegu, Korea
Joint Show, yfo Gallery, Daegu, Korea
Pulse New York, Hudson River Park, New York, USA
2008 Gyub, Gallery SoSo, Hyeri; Inter-viewing Paintings, Soma Museum of Art,Seoul, Korea
2007 From Nothingness, Culture and Art Center, Daegu, Korea
2002 Erasion & Drawing, Shin Gallery, Cheongju; Age of Philosophy and Aesthetics, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
2000 Landscape of Spirit, Gallery M, Daegu, Korea
Mix-up, Total Gallery, Seoul, Korea
A Facet of Contemporary, Korean and Japanese Art, Gwangju Biennale, Gwangju, Korea
1999 Looking at the Alchemy of an Age, Busan Museum of Modern Art, Busan, Korea
1997 Korea-China-Japan Contemporary Art Exhibition, Culture and Arts Center,Daegu, Korea
1996 Development of Korean Modernism, Kumho Museum, Seoul, Korea
Korean Drawing NOW, Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA
1980 Impact Art Festival, Kyoto Museum of Art, Kyoto, Japan
1979 Sao Paulo Biennale, Sao Paulo, Brazil
1978 Korean : The Trend for the Past 20 Years of Contemporary Art, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
1977 Korean Contemporary Painting, Museum of History, Taipei, Taiwan
Korea : A Facet of Contemporary Art, Central Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan
1976-79 Ecole de Seoul, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
1975-79 Seoul contemporary Art Festival, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
1974-78 Daegu Contemporary Art Festival, Gyemyung University, Daegu, Korea
1974 Korean Experimental, Dabec Gallery, Daegu, Korea