Younghwan Choi’s artistic practice deals with modern architecture and how it can be contextualized as an evocative clue for reflecting the history of modern civilization and paths for mediating timelines.
Working with local community members in Griffintown, Younghwan engaged in a process of writing letters to existing buildings, as well as sites that are no longer occupied by a building. The buildings engaged in this writing performance become anthropomorphized and assume the identity of a friend who has spent a long time with people in physical and emotional relationships. Through the form of a letter, participants expressed the manifold variety of connections and experiences related to their building or vacant site. The collected letters were then transformed into handwriting or print images and inserted into the site.
An interview with Younghwan will be posted soon! Special thanks to Judith Bauer, Fiona Annis, Dennis Delaney and Michael Ryan for their participation.
Artist Bio
Younghwan utilizes visual art as a device to explore the epistemology changing over time and human nature. Specifically he is interested in the co-relationship between modern urbanization (architecture and infra–structure) and our changed perceptions as the result of the new environment.
Younghwan Choi was born in Jecheon, South Korea, in 1978. He received a BFA from Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea (2007) and an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in Chicago, United States (2010).
Youngwan’s hybridized works—installation, sculpture, performance, painting and video—trace the history of the modern environments and re-interpret the meaning of their existence and the change of meaning over time. He lives and works in Chicago, United States.
