Choi Myoung Young, Conditional Planes 22-601

For the sale, the following two options are being considered:

• Private Sale: The painting is offered directly to private collectors of Choi Myoung Young's works.
• Auction: The painting will be offered as a single lot at an auction for contemporary art. This option is considered if the price has developed to the point where the minimum bid matches the market value and there is high demand for works by the artist.

Why Invest in Choi Myoung-Young?

Choi Myoung-Young is a leading figure in the Dansaekhwa movement and contemporary Korean art. Dansaekhwa, which translates as “monochrome painting,” was formalized in the 1970s in reference to Korean artists who redefined abstract painting in reaction to a turbulent socio-political environment.

Formative Years and Artistic Influences

Born in Haeju, Hwanghae-do, in 1941, Young defected to South Korea during the Korean War and grew up in Gunsan and Incheon. In 1957, he began studying art at Incheon National School of Education under master artist Chung Sanghwa, after which he entered the Hongik University College of Fine Arts in 1960 to study painting.

Evolution of Methodology and Style

After graduating from college in 1964, Young spent the remainder of the decade as a member of the art groups Origin Society (1963–1993), Korean Avant-Garde Association (A.G., 1970–1973), and École de Seoul (1975–1999), and participated in the likes of the Paris Biennale (1967) and São Paulo Biennale (1969) to set his foot in the art scene as an emerging artist.
Since the mid-1970s, Young has persistently explored using his body and the relationship between the canvas plane and the medium of paint under the theme of “Conditional Planes,” repeating and varying physical actions on top of the flat surface to understand painterly existence. In the mid-1970s, the artist produced what are known today as the “Sandpaper” and “Fingerprint” series.
Throughout the mid-1980s and the 1990s, Young’s repetitive movements took on vertical and horizontal orientations to settle as his unique methodology and style.

"Monotonous" Works

Young often uses the expression “monotonous” to describe his works. Creating superficial space composed of regular units—by performing repetitive actions within the frame of the blank, quadrilateral canvas—can be seen as a daily act of validating existence. The canvas as a background no longer distinguishes or restrains art and life. Just as the body and the mind are no longer subjects for distinction, the conditional plane is now an existential “platform,” an infinite space that serves to intertwine and reveal the artist’s repetitive actions. This is precisely why Young’s creative world is a demonstration of “controlling monotony,” something that ceaselessly flows toward infinite variations.

His work is held in several permanent museum collections including:

Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan
Seoul Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Busan Museum of Art, Busan, Korea
Daegu Art Museum, Daegu, Korea
Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, Korea
Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, Korea
Shimonoseki City Art Museum, Shimonoseki, Japan
Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Mie, Japan
Hong-Ik Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea
Posco Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
Total Museum of Contemporary Art, Seoul, Korea
Gidang Art Museum, Jeju-do, Korea
Walker Hill Art Museum, Seoul, Korea
Ho-Am Art Center, Yongin, Korea
Sejong Center for the Performing Arts, Seoul, Korea
Leeum Art Museum, Korea, Korea

Selected Solo Exhibitions:

2024
Tokyo Gallery + BTAP, “Choi Myoung Young”, Tokyo, Japan
The Page Gallery, TEFAF New York, New York, USA

2023
Almine Rech, “Choi Myoung Young: Conditional Planes”, Paris Matignon, Paris, France
Art Chosun Space (ACS), Seoul, Korea

2022
Gallery Bisunjae, “Choi Myoung Young: Conditional Planes”, Seoul, Korea
The Page Gallery, “Choi Myoung Young”, Seoul, Korea

2019
The Page Gallery, “Choi Myoung Young: Conditional Planes II”, Seoul, Korea

2017
Gallery Shilla,“Choi Myoung Young”, Daegu, Korea

Selected Group Exhibitions:

2024
Almine Rech, Art Basel Paris, Paris, France (Upcoming: October 18-20, 2024)
Tokyo Gallery, Art Bael Paris, Paris, France (upcoming: October 18-20, 2024)
Almine Rech, Frieze Seoul, Seoul, Korea (upcoming: September 4-7, 2024)
Tokyo Gallery, Frieze Seoul, Seoul, Korea (upcoming: September 4-7, 2024)
Shinsegae Gallery, “Contemplation”, Seoul, Korea
Hammer Museum, “Only the Young Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s”, Los Angeles, USA
Hoban Cultural Foundation, “Resonance of the Times”, Seoul, Korea
Gallery Shilla, “Winter Collections In Daegu”, Daegu, Korea

2023
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,“Only the Young: Experimental Art in Korea, 1960s–1970s”, NY, USA
Hakojae Gallery, “Eui-geum-sang-gyeong: Over her embroidered robe she puts on a plain garment”, Seoul, Korea
Space21, “Avant-Garde group 1965 – 1975”, Seoul, Korea

2021
The Page Gallery, ”Chusa Kim, Ufan Lee, Choi Myoung Young, Choi In-soo”, Seoul, Korea

2018
Puerta Roja Gallery, “Reflections – Celebrating Eight Years of Cross-Cultural Collaboration”, Hong Kong
The Page Gallery, “A to P (A letter from the new Page)”, Seoul, Korea
Gallery Shilla, “Black Selections”, Daegu, Korea

2017
Museum San, “Looking into Korean Art Part2: Dansaekhwa”, Wonju, Korea
Tokyo Opera City Art Gallery, “Rhythm in Monochrome Korean Abstract Painting”, Tokyo, Japan

Conditional Planes

Series symbolizes Young’s artistic journey throughout his work, since the 1970s. This style emphasizes the flat surface of the canvas, aligning him with the Dansaekhwa paintings, which are characterized by geometric, simple, clear lines and forms in primary colors. Young’s particular style in this era was based on the idea of the creation and extinction of traces on canvas by using fingerprint and sandpaper.