many doors & millions of trash

24Jan12

Worthless materials are not often the preferred artistic medium, but for South Korean artist Choi Jeong-hwa they are. For instance, the first two images are from the 2009 Seoul Design Olympiad, in which the artist used the trash accumulated by the 10 million people who attended to construct the piece. What was once worthless became useful – and quite beautiful. Third is a sculpture, Cherry, that lives in a hospital in Japan. This one isn’t made of garbage, but it intrigued me nonetheless; something about it’s utterly unashamed kitschy-ness that is somehow bold. The final two images show a 10-story public exhibit in Seoul made using 1,000 used doors. How I would love to walk through that neighborhood when that was up! via. This short video from the Creators Project is a good source if you’re interested in seeing more of his work.
There is so much I would like to discuss about this artist’s work, philosophy, and practice, that I may seek the traditional outlet of a paper to say all I need to say…for now I will just admire:

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Tags: appropriation, doors, garbage, Olympics, plastic, public art, South Korea