On the 11th, artist Choi Byung-So (1943-2025), who left an indelible mark on the history of Korean contemporary art, passed away at the age of 82.
 
Choi Byung-So was born in Daegu in 1943 and studied Western painting at Chungang University. He lived and worked in Daegu throughout his career. He was one of the founding members of the 《Daegu Contemporary Art Festival》, the first contemporary art festival in Korea.
 
He exhibited his works in major group exhibitions held at the National Art Center, Tokyo in 1977, Bienal de Sao Paulo in 1979, and Brooklyn Museum in 1981. He was active internationally with solo exhibitions at Daegu Art Museum in 2012 and the Musée d’art moderne et contemporain Saint-Étienne Métropole in France in 2016. His works were presented for 《Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s》 at Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2023-2024.

Choi Byung-So showed avant-garde experimental arts such as conceptual installations while working as a key member of 《Korean Experimental Works》 in 1974 and 《Daegu Contemporary Art Festival》 in 1974-78. In addition, such works were in context with his later works in the sense that they constantly asked questions about existence and absence, image and substance.

In the 70s, when Choi Byung-So began to produce works using newspapers, avant-garde art that rejected conservative concepts and forms and pursued innovation was actively developing around the world, while socially the media was controlled and expression was suppressed.
 
For Choi Byung-So as a young man in his early 30s who was living in such an era, newspapers were the most accessible media at the time, but he started to erase newspaper articles with a ballpoint pen because he was angry at the media for not being able to control them.
 
Choi Byung-So’s work was to draw lines with pencils and ballpoint pens on newspapers repeatedly, until black lines covered the front and the paper was torn by friction, reaching the physical limit where the work was no longer possible.

At first glance, the blackened surface on the newspaper looked the same, but the endless repetition of human labor and time driven by the artist’s creative will was an artistic practice, that accumulated in each piece of work to give unique value to insignificant daily mass production and to make the temporary permanently sustainable.
 
In April, Choi Byung-So held his final solo exhibition, 《Choi Byung-So: Untitled》, at Wooson Gallery, Seoul, marking his last artistic exchange with the public.

References

• 우손갤러리, 최병소 (Wooson Gallery, Choi Byung-So)