Choi Jeong-hwa blurs, disturbs, and enjoys the boundaries between the real and the false, artworks and commodities, and art and everyday life using waste banners, household supplies, plastic bowls, bath scrubbers, trophies, vinyl, and foil as the materials for his works. He interprets mass production and mass consumption made available thanks to Korea’s modernization with such keywords as excessive obsession and excessive consumption. He thereby creates his intrinsic Korean Pop Art with the hope that his viewers might come across them in an ordinary space as opposed to a museum or gallery.
Born in Seoul, Choi Jeong-hwa graduated from the Hongik University College of Fine Arts. He was awarded several prestigious art prizes such as the grand prize at the JoongAng Fine Arts Prize in 1987, the Ilmin Art Prize in 2005, and the Artist of the Year Award in 2006. Choi took part in world renowned biennales like the Venice Biennale and the Gwangju Biennale as well as group exhibitions. He has also held numerous solo shows at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA, Korea), the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art, and Hayward Gallery.