Meet Choi Na-ri (최나리): a contemporary artist who creates colourful ‘pop-art style’ cartoon characters through which Choi seeks to “introduce a new type of folk painting by grafting a modern motif on our traditional painting.” Her creations are interesting with a life of their own and are immediately attributable to the talented artist.
Choi’s graphic style employs thick black outlines filled with intense flat colours to define voluptuous bodies in various everyday settings, and sometimes fantastical tableaux, as a way of exploring human appetites and desires. These faceless people, however, are most recognisable by the wild heads of hair made of tubes that snake upwards, Medusa-like, as if each strand has a life (and desires) of its own. In Choi’s series, ‘Hojkado in the House’, the artist re-imagines a satirical genre of Korean folk painting. As a satire on power hierarchies, Hojkado traditionally depicts a dignified magpie as symbolic of the common man and a tiger representing authority.
Choi has been familiar with art from a young age. She graduated from a high school of the arts and continued her artistic studies at university and graduate school majoring in Western painting. Choi’s career as an artist began in 2009 but alongside this she has worked as an educator, having taught and lectured on the arts for 20 years. Choi draws inspiration from Niki de Saint-Phalle. “I love”, Choi shared, “how she projected her life in her artworks without using a grotesque style. It became vibrant outdoor sculptures which I find special.
Choi describes herself as having always been ‘interested in various degrees of people’. The various characters she creates in her paintings have allegoristic qualities, which question people about their attitude toward their lives, asking ordinary questions such as ‘how was your life today?’. Choi communicates with her audience through participating at art fairs, both nationally and internationally, and has also created art collaborations with several corporations.
Interestingly, Choi has a novel creative process which she uses to create her art. Choi shared with me that she developed“plot in this work by symbolising the images from mayonnaise bottles (especially from Ottogi*) and tomato ketchup tubes into males and females. I made narratives with their confronting points, such as their colours, tastes, and the shapes coming out from the bottle into males and females. Squeezing the sauce from the bottle is a metaphor for expressing their desire, deviation and longing for their utopia. In the canvas, they are mixed and harmonised with one line.”
When not working on her thesis for her PhD degree, Choi works from her studio located in Hanam-si, Gyeonggi-do. She described the studio as a corporation-style office, inside of an industrial complex which has various companies’ offices.” As an artist who has never had any personal experiences of working as as an office worker, and therefore does not know the lives and patterns of office workers, Choi shared with me that she loves “to feel some of those things for myself. In particular, I love to be a part of the rush of people during the peak time and be wait in a queue during lunch break. These experiences give me a sense of belonging and a mind of professional.”
Choi considers drawing to be her “most familiar tool to express my internal thoughts. When I am fully focused on my work, I forget about real life. Those times are precious and I appreciate them.”
In her earlier works, Choi created images based on her experiences as a female in modern society, and sought to overturn the unfairness that traditional women needed to endure. Later she created works featuring women who stand independently. Nowadays however, the works Choi creates are a natural process of a female artist who has witnessed changes in society over time. Her more recent works explore “the theme of the harmonisation of males and females through a symbiotic relationship. The round shapes and angular shapes, eventually come together in the harmony of acknowledging each other’s differences.” Her colourful works incorporate a sense of irony and the bright visual images you observe have a dark side to them, something which Choi describes herself as being good at creating. “I would like,” Choi shared, “to become an artist who is able to ask a lot of questions to the audience.”
The best advice Choi has received as an artist is that the reminder that an artist is a person who can see something different. Understanding something differently gives the artists a positive effect on their lives. Choi takes inspiration from other artists’ works and thoughts, which helps “me to understand the world more widely. Fortunately, right now I don’t have any creative blocks. I faced some uncomfortable situations such as financial difficulty with regards to meeting the cost of the rent for my studio, and I needed to work in the art academy to sustain myself, which gave me a little distraction as an artist. But I think those experiences also taught me a lot. I consider myself to be a positive, hard-working person, who can feel pretty much what I need to feel.”
Choi’s favourite piece of art amongst her colourful creations is ‘Hojakdo’ series which combines contemporary visual art with traditional Korean art. We discussed this series in great detail (much to my delight). Choi uses this series as a means of applying her own interpretation of traditional ‘Minhwa’, adding a modern twist to create and introduce a new form of Korean style visual art. Choi planned this series for display at international exhibitions. Talking of this, Choi shared she hopes “this series has a role in attracting people’s interest in Minhwa”.
For those reading this that may not be familiar with the term ‘Minhwa’: Minhwa was a popular form of traditional Korean folk art used during the Joseon dynasty. These traditional paintings were used by ancestors of Korea as a way of wishing someone wealth, healthiness, and luck but also to pray for wishes and the disappearance of bad luck. The traditional ‘Minhwa’ had a role of a charm from the beginning, and at the same time, it was the desired object that wish for unobtainable hope.
Choi’s new form of ‘Minhwa’ combines contemporary motifs and traditional Korean-style visual art. Choi applies her iconic way of creation to the ‘Minhwa’, re-interpretating the artistic style to create new stories with daily life and as a way of widening her creational field. The tiger inside the daily living space could be interpreted as ‘an incident’, asking the audience their reactions when they faced an unexpected situation. There are characters who proactively involve, try to avoid, cry with panic and observe the situation. The audience could think about ‘Which character would be me?’
‘Hojakdo’ is a prominent genre of ‘Minhwa’, and features magpies and tigers against the backdrop of mountains and pine trees, “which could be interpreted in many ways, such as satire of the ruling class, a tale of wise magpies and a prayer for happiness. Traditionally in Korea, a tiger had a positive image such as exorcising evil spirits and bringing happiness. However, ‘Hojakdo’, depicts corrupted national officers (Tam-guan-o-ri) who lost or do not have integrity while they have power. On the other hand, magpies are interpreted as ordinary people. In the artwork, a tiger cannot defeat magpies since a tiger is foolishly depicted and magpies are depicted in a confident manner.”
There are two different perspectives on these satirical icons: one is its intention is to criticize the highly divided social status in the Joseon dynasty (a former dynasty of Korea), and the other is focusing on the meaning of the pine tree that is situated as a background of magpies and tigers. Traditionally in Korea, a magpie is considered an auspicious bird. Therefore a combination of a tiger, a magpie and a pine tree means a combination of three spiritual beings which function as auspiciousness and charm. The icons are placed in several different places in the house with the background of modern daily life. Unlike the characters who are not able to identify the facial expression which symbolises an anonymous modern human being, it can be possible to imagine the stories in the artworks via the facial expression of a tiger and magpies. A tiger in the house has two different images: a beast that everyone has in their mind, and a guardian who protects people by giving them heartwarming advice. Furthermore, it visualizes the ‘events’ that can be happened in daily life.
“I think,” Choi said, “people love them because of the harmonisation of colours and their interesting images.”
We spoke about her piece titled ‘What’s for BrEakfAsT?’ and pictured left. Art lovers will be able to easily deduce her inspiration: ‘The Last Supper’ by Leonardo da Vinci. Through this piece, Choi asks people about their attitudes towards their lives. She hopes the audience will reflect on the characters in the work and find their own conclusion.
Choi has found that the most unexpected thing about being an artist is the surprise she feels when she looks at a finished piece and realises she has created what she imagined and in visualised in her thoughts. “I feel,” Choi added, “catharsis when I encounter unexpected joy during the process, such as a better layout of colour than I thought, or a well-drawn line.”
Choi hopes that her works will allow the audience to question their attitudes towards their lives, apart from the figures of human beings. I intentionally delete the facial expressions of the characters so that the audience could put their emotions into that character, which will be the final key to completing my work. I hope the audience ‘read’ my work while questioning themselves ‘How was my today?’.
Choi’s advice to artists just starting out: I would like to say, ‘Don’t hesitate to show yourself’. On top of that, prepare logical reasons that could back up your opinion. It will eventually lead you to nice work when your desire for expressing your opinion meets suitable materials.
*Note to reader: Ottogi is a brand. The Ottogi mayonnaise bottle has a star-shape mouth which makes the mayonnaise itself a bit angular shape when squeezed. By comparison, the Ottogi ketchup bottle has a round mouth.