JooYoung Choi: Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith
Feb 3–May 7, 2023
Image Gallery
Contemporary at Blue Star installation view. JooYoung Choi, "Like a Bolt Out of the Blue, Faith Steps In and Sees You Through," 2019. Courtesy of the artist and Inman Gallery, Houston. Photo credit: Francisco Cortes
Artist JooYoung Choi placing dreams in the garden during First Friday on February 3, 2023 at the Contemporary at Blue Star. Photo credit: Francisco Cortes
Installation detail of JooYoung Choi, "Like a Bolt Out of the Blue, Faith Steps In and Sees You Through" (2019) at the Contemporary at Blue Star. Photo credit: Francisco Cortes
Visitor with JooYoung Choi, "Journey Vision 5000" (2014 -2018) on view at the Contemporary at Blue Star. Photo credit: Francisco Cortes
Visitor with JooYoung Choi, "Big
Time Rescue" (2017) on view at the Contemporary at Blue Star. Photo credit: Francisco Cortes
JooYoung Choi: Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith
Feb 3–May 7, 2023
February 3, 2023 – May 7, 2023
Through painting, video, sculpture, animation, music and installation art, multidisciplinary world builder JooYoung Choi documents the interconnecting narratives of a highly-structured, expansive, fictional land she has created and titled the Cosmic Womb. In her work, she explores issues of identity, belonging, trauma and resilience through the sci-fi/fantasy genre, inspired by the media of her childhood and her ongoing research on identity and the media representation of girls, women, intersex, transgender and non-binary people of color.
This exhibition introduces the Cosmic Womb multiverse and highlights some of its key characters and narratives. In creating a world that explores loss, healing and growth based upon a connective web of belief and faith in oneself, Choi expresses human resiliency and the strength that can be found through the power of storytelling.
Biography
JooYoung Choi is a Houston-based multidisciplinary artist whose paintings, videos, sculptures, animations, music, and installations merge the autobiographical with the fantastical. She was born in Seoul, South Korea, and immigrated to Concord, New Hampshire in 1983 by way of adoption. She has a BFA from Massachusetts College of Art and Design and an MFA from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Choi’s artwork has been exhibited in such venues as Crystal Bridges; Akron Art Museum; The Contemporary Arts Museum Houston; Project Row Houses; The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience, Seattle; The Currier Museum of Art, NH; The National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago; The Art Museum of South East Texas, Beaumont; and Lawndale Art Center, Houston. Choi has received grants from Artadia, The National Endowment for the Arts, and the Idea Fund, and has participated in the Lawndale Artist Residency in Houston, TX and the Harvester Artist Residency in Wichita, KS.
Choi’s work has been featured by numerous media groups and publications, including the PBS Digital Studios Art Assignment, Korean Global News Network YTN, Los Angeles Times, New American Paintings, Arts+Culture magazine, Houston Chronicle, Glasstire, PaperCity Houston, Nat. Brut and the Huffington Post.
JooYoung Choi: Songs of Resilience from the Tapestry of Faith was originally organized by the Crow Museum of Asian Art of The University of Texas at Dallas and curated by Jacqueline Chao.