Choi Sangchul Korea, b. 1946

Choi Sangchul is an artist who has dedicated over 50 years to exploring the origins of art. Beginning his career in 1970 with the Korean Art Awards Exhibition, he has held 18 solo exhibitions and over 110 group exhibitions. Throughout his journey, Choi has consistently sought new tools and methods, rejecting conventional techniques to carve out his unique path.

His work is centered on the concept of Mu-mool (無物), a term he coined to describe the state of chaos and possibility before form emerges. For Choi, Mu signifies not simply absence, but the potential for anything to come into being—the origin of all things. His artistic practice focuses on freeing himself from the desire to depict reality or express emotions, instead returning to a moment of limitless potential.

Choi Sangchul does not draw any features with his hands or brushes. His art is simply a trace of something, like a stone. All customs of “mimesis and decoration” that reproduce objects or reveal intentions through the act of drawing were extracted from the work. He also tried to minimize the place from an ongoing desire to draw better. As such, for him, painting is no longer a process of capturing the meaning and value that the artist hopes to communicate through its representation or expression.

He is an artist who works like a practitioner who erases and empties himself by repeating a thousand movements, hoping that nature’s order-without his intention-would be revealed on his canvas beyond the formative beauty of the painting.