Park Han-sol reports on Korea's financial regulators, along with fintech and insurance. She previously wrote about the art world, from biennales and exhibitions to fairs and auctions, with a focus on Seoul and the figures shaping the scene. Before joining The Korea Times, she spent a year at ABC News' Seoul bureau, contributing to coverage of major Asia-Pacific events.
Emerging artist's swirling canvas graces church-turned-art space
Installation view of artist Choi Yoon-hee's mini-exhibition, "Tuning In," at TINC (This is Not a Church), a church-turned-independent project space, in Seongbuk District, northeastern Seoul / Courtesy of the artist and G Gallery
By Park Han-sol
It was the first week of June, just days before Korea’s first heat wave of the year. Inside what was once a small town church in Seongbuk District, northeastern Seoul, bright summer sunlight streamed through rows of vertical slit windows.
The sunbeams fell upon swarms of painted sinuous lines and colored planes drifting across the building's mint-hued walls. And as the light shifted with the passing of time, different clusters of feverish strokes shimmered in succession, slowly coming to life.
Such was the quiet spectacle that greeted this reporter upon arriving at TINC (This is Not a Church), a church-turned-independent project space, where emerging artist Choi Yoon-hee's mini-exhibition, "Tuning In," is currently on view.
Throughout her creative odyssey, Choi has focused on transferring the lingering afterimages of her bodily sensations and impressions gathered from the external world onto canvas via gestural brushstrokes and smeared paints.
Her ongoing presentation is a mini-show in terms of the number of featured works — just three from her latest "Time Standing in a Passage" series — but by no means does it feel that way due to their sheer scale.
The size of the oil paintings — each 6 meters in length and 2.6 meters in height, making them the 38-year-old's largest creations to date — mirrors the dimensions of the wall in her compact Seoul studio.
This meant that after completing one wall-filling piece, the artist had no choice but to place the next canvas directly over the first to make room — the process that inevitably caused the memory of the previous work to fade away.
Choi Yoon-hee's "Time Standing in a Passage #1," right, and "Time Standing in a Passage #2" / Courtesy of the artist and G Gallery
Visual artist Choi Yoon-hee / Courtesy of the artist and G Gallery
In fact, “Tuning In” marks the first time that both Choi and curator Maeng Jee Young are getting a full view of all three paintings in one space.
“This exhibition — which sprang from a conversation I had with the artist in 2022 out of curiosity about what new visual possibilities can emerge when her images are expanded on a larger scale — was, at first, really a show for the two of us. We wanted a chance to witness the series’ evolution unfold before our eyes in one spacious room,” the independent curator told The Korea Times.
Tracing the changes of expression across three expansive canvases was a revelatory experience for the rising artist.
“When I started the series, I initially felt compelled to find ways to ‘fill’ the screen before me in any way possible,” Choi noted. “But upon finishing the first piece, I grew accustomed to its scale. As I moved on to the next chapter, I found myself thinking of the canvas not merely as a flat surface to populate but as a three-dimensional space that pulled in my whole body.”
And with the unveiling of this show, she feels that she is readying herself to take the next big step in her creative journey.
“Artists should continually push their own limits, whether it leads to failure or success, to explore new horizons. But breaking through these barriers alone can often be challenging and isolating; it's difficult for them to distance themselves from their current works,” Maeng said.
“That’s why I believe there should be more hands-on collaborative projects like this between creatives and curators, who share a vision for the direction they want to pursue together. These can increase the likelihood of seeing more high-quality final works, enriching the experience for both artists and viewers.”
“Tuning In” runs through June 29. Choi will also be featured at Seoul-based G Gallery’s solo booth at the upcoming Armory Show art fair in New York in September.