
P21 presents Choi Jeong Hwa‘s second solo exhibition with the gallery, SARORISARORIRATTA, from 28 August to 10 October, 2020. This exhibition marks the 3rd anniversary of the gallery and its inaugural exhibition with Choi Jeong Hwa. While the world is exhausted from the lengthy pandemic, Choi wishes to share messages of hope and recovery through his work. Like the way that the people of Goryeo cried out ‘sarorisaroriratta’ (literally ‘Live, I will live’) for their aspiration toward utopia, Choi erects daily-life monuments created with everyday objects to present those who are deeply craving a normal life with earnest hope.
Choi Jeong Hwa (b.1961) is an artist and designer whose work moves between the disciplines of visual art,graphic design, industrial design and architecture. His inspiration comes from popular culture and day-to-day life. This is reflected in his choice of media ranging from video, moulded plastic, shopping trolleys, real and fake food, lights, wires and kitsch artifacts. Best known for his large-scale inflatable sculptures—notably lotus blossoms—Choi’s practice is marked by an irreverent take on cultural icons and materials that permeate our daily life. Large-scale outdoor sculptures crafted from diverse materials such as consumer goods, balloons, wires, as well as recycled and found objects are the hallmarks of Choi’s playful repertoire. Choi has participated in many biennials of contemporary art, including the Arsenale Kyiv (2012), the 17th Sydney Biennial (2010), the Gwangju Biennale (2006), the Venice Biennale–Korean pavilion (2005), the Liverpool Biennial (2004), the Lyon Biennale (2003), the Yokohama Triennale (2001), the São Paulo Biennale (1998) and the Taipei Biennale (1998).




Using a wide variety of materials- from shopping trolleys to video to food, Choi Jeong Hwa’s playful practice comments on the priveleged status of art and its institution. His most well known installations are spectacular inflatable blooms. These colourful public works create a bridge between the modern world and the cosmological realm of Asian symbolism. The lotus, as a symbol of purity and divinity, is rewritten as an immortal icon of commodity culture. And avid collector of urban detritus, Choi Jeong Hwa is regarded as a founding member of the Korean Pop Art movement.
P21 was established in 2017 by Soo Choi. Located in Itaewon district, a cultural hub in Seoul, the gallery opened with an inaugural exhibition by Choi Jeong Hwa and continues to promote compelling and original examples of international contemporary art. P21 is known for its unique exhibition space with two separate facades, respectively named P1 and P2, that enable artists to create site-specific works.

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