Jeong Hwa CHOI - Breathing Flower, 2019

Jeong Hwa CHOI

Born in 1961 in Seoul, lives and works in Seoul, Korea.

A figurehead of Korean art, this Pop artist with a "kitsch" aesthetic creates joyful and ultra-colourful works. The artist draws on the proliferation of objects from consumer society to create forms born from the accumulation of objects and waste from daily life that he diverts into works of art. He also creates gigantic inflatable works in recycled plastic, all equally delirious: a huge fruit tree or breathing flowers.

The huge inflatable lotus flowers are among the most emblematic of the artist's work. A symbol of purity, the lotus is a sacred flower in Buddhist iconography. Its inflatable representation by the artist Choi Jeong Hwa calls for several interpretations. With this larger-than-life sculpture, made of synthetic material and with unreal colours, the artist deanctified the religious icon to make an enchanting ornamental object.

An allusion to the distance from the spiritual in Korea, a country undergoing rapid urbanization and economic growth. The petals of this immense corolla, 7 meters in diameter, move slowly to the rhythm of pulses of air, creating the strange sensation of a breath. The artist breathes life as if to conjure up its ephemeral beauty.

"For example, I make flowers with inflatable balloons, flowers that breathe, as it were. I also make various installations with plastic objects that are used in everyday life. In this process I tell the relationship between everyday life and art. I try to reduce the gap between the two. In life everything is art, life and art are one ". Choi Jeong Hwa

The work for La Seine Musicale

Placed on the roof and visible from afar, the petals of this immense corolla, 7 metres in diameter, move slowly to the rhythm of air impulses, creating the strange sensation of breathing. The artist breathes life as if to conjure up its ephemeral beauty.

This work was presented in 2019 at the 2nd edition of Les Extatiques in Paris La Défense.

BREATHING FLOWER, 2019
Fabric, blower, LED lighting, steel,
wooden structure
Courtesy Jeong Hwa Choi/P21, Seoul