Frozen Flowers

As I entered the forest, colorful flower piles greeted me unexpectedly. As I listened to the incomprehensible sounds of nature, I felt deeply immersed in their world. Even though I cannot understand the meaning of their words, I heard myself in them, greeting me, welcoming me home. - Year of production: 2018

* Diary for "Star 180823"

No matter what, my mind is complicated right now and I wonder if the path I"m taking is set correctly? Am I taking the wrong direction? I feel dizzy. The work I filmed yesterday also makes me anxious as I feel the pressure of how the water buds will be expressed. Fortunately, the elderly diver women of Jeju Island (Haenyeo) works may end up in the Womens History Museum. I sighed with relief. Others say that being immersed in one thing and repeating it for a long time is great, without ever knowing my true story, but to me, it"s actually quite boring. - 2018, August 22

[Joon Choi]

A After studying in Japan and honing his skills as a photographer in the United States, Joon Choi returned home to Korea in 1988. Soon, he was handling advertising campaigns for major domestic brands such as Samsung, LG, SK, Lotte, and more, earning him the title of a legend in the Korean advertising industry with over two decades of experience. After a chance encounter with some relics, he embarked on a journey to embrace the everyday imperfection he witnessed outside his sterile studio and allow nature and chance to shape his craft. The result has been nothing short of magnificent, and he has since produced some of his lifes best work, including profiling the Gilt-bronze Pensive Maitreya Bodhisattva and taking portraits of Jeju Islands elder female divers (Haenyeo). Joon Choi has held solo exhibitions at the Busan Museum of Art, Seoul Museum of Art, Fukuoka National Museum, Miyazaki Provincial Museum of Art, and UNESCO in Paris, and has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea.

His latest Frozen Flowers series is a continuation of his artistic journey into more abstract, but honest, territory, and aimed at getting closer to the artists own truth about the deep paradoxes of life we all witness and participate in.

http://joonchoi.kr/
