YOUNGHEE CHOI MARTIN
Into Something Rich and Strange, on view in late 2004, was a selection of paintings by Younghee Choi Martin.Drawing inspiration from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land and Virgil’s Aeneid, the work is an original mix of classical and modern, employing a semi-abstract style to express tragic and heroic themes. Affirming that “painting is silent poetry,” the artist brings a refreshing sense of drama to the contemporary scene.
Thunder of Spring, 75x100, 2004
The show included 20 of Younghee's works, most of which she completed in 2004 or 2003. Nearly all are painted in oil on linen.
Inexplicable, 16x20, 2002
From 30 years of painting, Younghee Choi Martin has developed an approach to oils that resonates into the distant past. Steeped in myth and literature, it reveals as well a close study of the Old Masters, an affinity with Impressionist and Cubist methods, and a flair for dramatic gestures and colors. “One falls into these works, into their sophistication and their open-hearted embrace of painting,” writes fellow artist John Bradford. “They beckon you to float lightly along their surface until you are enveloped, finally, in their compelling feeling of longing for some sense of the wholeness we have lost.”
Inundation, 11x11, 2004
A book illustrating 52 of Younghee’s paintings, along with essays by Mr. Bradford, Joel Silverstein, and others, is available at the gallery.
Educated at the Rhode Island School of Design and in Rome, and the recipient of numerous honors, the artist has had 17 previous one-person shows and over 50 group exhibitions in New York and throughout the United States, as well as in France, Italy, Japan, and Korea. She lives and paints in Chelsea.
