Venue: Bank of Hope
Address: 16 West 32nd Street, New York, NY 10001
Date: November 15, 2018 – May 15, 2019
Gallery Hours: Monday through Friday, 9am – 5pm
Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 15, 5:30 – 7:30 PM
Curated by: Hye Seong Margaret Tae
The AHL Foundation in partnership with the Bank of Hope is pleased to announce Fauna & Flora, the solo exhibition of Eun Young Choi, on view at the Bank of Hope Manhattan branch from November 15th, 2018 through May 15th, 2019. This exhibition will feature mixed media collage works by Korean artist Eun Young Choi is curated by AHL Foundation’s 2018 Curatorial Fellow Hye Seong Margaret Tae.
Eun Young Choi integrates familiar childhood memories of storytelling and dislocation with the continuous struggle to contain the intangible and elusive nature of memories. Choi’s works draw the viewers’ mind and body to displace them into a familiar yet unknown environment. The mixed media collages collect forms and colors into a visual representation of a metaphysical faculty of human reminiscence.
Through her sticker installations, Choi re-contextualize the trivial and silly childhood material into fanciful stories and exuberant patterns. In combination with the silver Mylar, which reflects and captures the surroundings and its audience into the work, create a dense duality between the reality of the present, and the illusion of the past. Choi’s installation exhibits a reality that is drawn into a makeshift memory, and the illusion that can never truly escape the current plane.
The vinyl collages take in botanical imagery with nostalgic patterns often found in domestic settings. The decorative motifs of plant like growths, together with biomorphic shapes create a narrative of both fauna and flora. Upon closer inspection the audience discovers an eerie composition of organisms overlaid by traditional Korean designs.
Eun Young Choi is a Brooklyn based artist born in Seoul, Korea. Choi has received an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York as well as a BFA from the school of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA in English Literature and Language form Ewha Woman’s University. Choi’s work has been exhibited in numerous international venues including the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Caja de Burgos, Spain; Aguélimuséet, Sala, Sweden; Kunsthaus Dresden, Germany; Foundry, London, UK; Landmark Project, Tokyo, Japan; and has participated in the London Biennale and the Pocheon Asia Biennale (Korea). Some of her exhibitions in the United States include Marjorie Barrick Museum and Reed Whipple Cultural Center in Las Vegas; Gardinia Gallery, Los Angeles; Chelsea Art Museum, Dean Project, Gallery Sixtyseven, Amelie A. Wallace Gallery, Taipei Cultural Center, PS 122 Gallery, and SPRING/BREAK Art Show in New York. With works in permanent collections at the Las Vegas Art Museum, St. Mary’s Children’s Hospital, Korea Cultural Center New York and various private collections. Choi’s work has been featured by many publications including the New York Times, Whitehot Magazine, W Magazine, NY Arts, New York Press, Korea Daily, Korean Times, Queens Chronicle, and Queens Courier among others.
The show is part of AHL Foundation’s Art in the Workplace program, which aims to present contemporary art works outside of a gallery setting in a public space for the purpose of bringing art into every day life and increasing its exposure to the public. Fauna and Flora will be open to the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Bank of Hope, 16 West 32nd Street, until May 15, 2019. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, November 15th, 2018 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
For information: info@ahlfoundation.org
