Childhood Remembered in the Flowing Thoughts - Kimura Sigenobu Art critic

"In the Korean Fine Art in 1990's - Story about Mannequins" has been held at National International Museum until January 26, and since January 24, Choi Woolga Exhibition will be held at ABC Gallery. It is not a simple coincidence, and the nature of exhibition is quite different from each other. Choi Woolga resides in France, not much associated with the trend of the Korean contemporary fine art.

Nevertheless, Choi Woolga's works (painting style) is not of a French style. In the French fine art community respecting the refined senses, his works are very heterogeneous, their forms are rough and colors are intense. To be more specific, he may belong to the 'primitive' sect similar to 'art brut' (art natural) championed by Dubuffet.

Choi Woolga sings, "Those who were all kids long ago. Why are they not willing to recollect his childhood?" To him, painting must be equated with recollection of his childhood to which his memory flows. Accordingly, in his paintings, every object is encoded like children's scribbles. Like fragment of bone, tree and shrub, fish and animals... Although they are encoded, they are never revealed as objects themselves but float after the process of metamorphosis. Namely, such signs are not readable because they are accompanied double or triple by other images. Upon observing such cipher-like signs, the audience must feel a secret of life.

'Not the phenomenon of the nature but its fundamental life.' This is the secret of the fairy tale-like poetry sung by Choi Woolga alone.