The world of Choi Jae-young's works

Natural beauty and purity of a child that lighten up the world 

Shin Hang-seop (art critic)

Everybody has the object of envy in mind. The reason for people to have such object is because they are willing to realize their own dreams, hopes and desires that they have not achieved through someone who is able to do for their sake. As so-called the regular people see their object of envy realizing the dreams that they have had for long, the people finally feel that their long-time desires are solved. In other words, such realization of one's dream or desire through other people refers to as an exit of desires to human beings who are meant to be incomplete. Painters also do have the object of envy. In their cases, the object appears in their work. Through the object, the painters works on their formative desires as they connect the reality with the ideal. 

In works of Choi Jae-young there appears a movie hero, Superman. Superman with the supernatural power is a character who always concentrates on righteous deeds as he freely crosses the world of fantasies. For this reason, many children admire him as the absolute existence. Choi Jae-young has chosen Superman to be the main object in his works because he considered him a symbolical existence who satisfies the desires of regular modern people. Rather simply being the object of envy, Superman who transcends time and space is more believed to be an ideal existence that the modern civilization has longed for. Superman, in short, is a characteristic that matches with the desires of the state-of-the-art electronic science and his such feature reflects the phases of the times. 

Superman has not been apparently realized yet but considering how quickly our science develops, he will present himself before our eyes soon. Superman who flies in the sky and beats off devils has no problems with being the symbol of this time for he is certainly able to realize the long-time desires of human beings. And yet, the remarkable speed of how modern civilization improves is, on the other hand, provoking a sense of crisis inside the people. Even though the realization of a human being with the supernatural powers definitely works for the old desires and ideals that the humankind has had, we should always keep in mind that it can be also a cause to demolish nature which has been thought to be a darker side of the science. 

Through his works, Choi Jae-young warns the breakdown of the natural environment which is directly proportional to the development of human civilization. He eventually suggests that the supernatural powers of Superman is used to preserve nature that the future of human beings depends on. What Choi Jae-young has in mind about assigning Superman to protect Mother Nature for human beings is such a childlike idea. To him, Superman is not a robot that the science created but a symbol of salvation that protect nature. This exactly tells how Cho Jae-young is concerned about suffering nature and the future of the humankind. In the end, he has turned out to be an artist who is fully aware of how important it is to be interested in nature as well as to take time for introspection regarding what people have done for nature.  

Another character which is found in his works is a doll. His tendency to use a doll before he use Superman for his works is considered to be Choi Jae-young's warning message to the world that the city has become overly artificial and standardized based on factitious orders. Here, the lifeless doll is a symbolic existence which reflects a cold city civilization as well as its ruthless social orders.  But, the innocent eyes, facial expression, and shape of the doll are a total purity. The doll which exists as a friend of immaculate children is a messenger that delivers dreams, loves, and hopes.  

The doll as innocent as a child is a kind of salvation message to the city civilization which conflicts with the order of nature. Through the doll which looks like themselves, the children learn how to communicate with the world, develops their imagination and feels secure in a mental way. The doll, appears in Choi Jae-young's works, is described as a child who roller-skate, watch the clock, and change into Superman. Children is a original form of purity. The doll which is described as a child becomes Superman and this Superman is again transformed into a regular child who is happy in his/her daily life. This way, Choi Jae-young realizes the formative changes. 

As you now can understand, even though Superman and the doll are certainly unrealistic, they are able to be a living organism which replaces the human being. Such gradual changes indicate where his formative ideal is. Ironically, the big city which demands brutal and standardized orders as the symbol of the modern civilization tells people the value of nature, provoking a sense of homing instinct inside them. The city that creates unnatural and inhumane life is as same as a giant prison camp which restricts the humans. As he has already known this, Choi Jae-young insists, through the doll, Superman, and children in his works, that people will not be free from the restriction of the city for good unless they regain a sense of nature inside them which wakes the human nature. 

That is right. The pure visions of the doll and the children only match with the true purpose of art. Choi Jae-young cherishes the original function of art which is to purify the state of mentality and feelings of human beings. As a result, he has focused on realizing bright and pure beauty by only using materials and images which feel as pure as possible. This way, he leads people who see his works to experience the purification of feeling which is the true function of art. This is also why he is so willing to create refined time and space through the aesthetic vision. The visual image which feels transparent, clean, soft and warm purifies the feelings. Such purified and refined feelings are known to be the best to indicate the original side of nature. For this reason, art can be the only way to help for human beings to return to the primitive phase of theirs.

In order to express such visual images and feelings, the same formative interpretation and technologies are required. The two factors appear to play an important role in carrying out a lucid and practical description on an object. Such precise description cannot be possible without long-time refined techniques, accurate observation and inborn proportional sense. To make an exact reproduction of an object is the greatest virtue of a painter for the unrestricted formative imagination comes along with a work by masterful hands. Regarding Choi Jae-young, he does not only concentrate on the realization of a fact but searches for how to use an arbitrary interpretation to express the physical form which is the formative beauty in other words. Here, an aesthetic vision is applied. 

The soft, warm, and relaxing feelings that we experience from Choi Jae-young's works originate from the pure visual images that he has aimed for. The description technique and the color images which are not hostile but friendly have finally ended up creating such visual images. Choi Jae-young works on oils and acrylics at the same time. Either of them feels soft and elegant. In particular, the color images are said to have bright, warm, and quiet characteristics. 

Even the work using the doll with a city image as a background feels rather warm than cold. The use of the clear and bright neutral colors has caused such atmosphere in the work. Choi Jae-young's latest work with a primeval forest as a background appears to be even more cheerful and lighter. The primeval nature that the artist has expressed is the completion of purity. Choi Jae-young avoids any images which would discomfort the audience. Nature with green woods, trees, grasses and colorful flowers in his works is such a heaven on earth. 

The primeval forest is a perfect uncontaminated nature where a single trace of human being would not be found at all. As a result, from an aspect of purity, a child with the earphones in his ears, the coordinator of nature, turned out to speaks for the necessity of the communication, not the severance from the civilization. And yet, even in such wonderful forest, there live black leopards and snakes, the subjects of fear. This is considered a formative device which does not only indicate the double-sideness of nature but also provoke the visual tension. 

While art is believed to work for more affluent and relaxing human life which is full of tough competitions at this moment, the works of Choi Jae-young sincerely come up to such demands. Since his works appear to send a social message to the world while they do not stick to the expression of the visual beauty only, it is never a coincidence that his works are proved to have a strong appeal as well as persuasive power.