NAMWON CHOI

NAMWON CHOI explores moments in motion, inviting viewers to experience a journey through Choi’s perspective from the car. Drawing inspiration from her family road trips, Choi captures intimate experiences shaped by distance and the act of seeing loved ones from afar. For her, distance is more than just a measurement, it carries deep emotion. Through her paintings and 3D paintings on unconventional supports, she constructs a nontraditional family portrait, exploring the connections that arise from physical and emotional space.

Choi’s hyperrealist, hyperpigmented paintings originate from iPhone dashboard photos, using photoresist techniques with acrylic, gouache on shaped wood panels. While blue dominates her palette, vivid colors referencing road signs add movement and familiarity. Open highways suggest uncertainty, while foliage, landforms, and shifting skies evoke wonder.

NAMWON CHOI received her BFA and MFA in Oriental Painting from Hongik University in Seoul, Korea and an MFA in Drawing and Painting from Georgia State University in Atlanta, GA. She has exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA; Moss Arts Center, Blacksburg, VA; the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA; the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.; Gallery Korea at the Korean Cultural Center of New York, NY; the Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, AL; the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; and The Low Museum, Atlanta, GA.

Choi has participated in numerous residencies and received several prestigious awards, including the MOCA GA Working Artist Project, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA; MASS MoCA Residency, North Adams, MA; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Fellowship, Amherst, VA; River Fellow Summer Resident Artist Program at Columbus State University, Columbus, GA; and the Creative Community Housing Project Artist-in- Residence at The Creative Project, Atlanta, GA. In 2023, Choi was named one of the five “Women to Watch” by the Georgia Triennial Committee of the National Museum of Women in the Arts.