NAMWON CHOI
En Route
Shape of Distance (Green Striped Circle), 2021, gouache and acrylic on panel, 18 in. diameter accompanied by smaller spheres
Exhibition Details:
September 2- October 29
Reception: Friday, September 16th, 2022 6-9 PM
Laney Contemporary is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Korean-born, Savannah-based artist,
Namwon Choi. En Route features a selection of hand-painted gouache landscapes on panels that suggest the transformative nature of conceptual landscape. Extensively trained in traditional Korean painting at Hongik University in Seoul, Korea, Choi’s attention to detail, texture, linework, and atmospheric effect read as photo-realistic while the liminal spaces of the road suggest a critical reflection upon how landscape, space, travel, idealism, and realism are not static, but ever-adjusting cultural constructions.
To be en route is both exciting and uncertain. It involves the complexities of transitioning from place to place and can be a process that traverses not only distance but culture and time. It involves literal and metaphorical perspective shifts, and changes of state, both emotional and physical. En Route explores these liminal spaces through devices such as repetition, color awareness, shape and scale-shifting, montage, and experimental wall installation. Choi’s work suggests that intermediate spaces and states are not negative experiences, but stages full of process.
