Choi Myung Ae

Installation View (1)

“There is a saying that by looking deeply into nature, we come to understand everything more clearly.”

This reflects the belief that the origins of science, philosophy, and art are embedded in the profound and orderly logic of nature. In The Time of Plants – My Garden, 2025, a solo exhibition by Choi Myung Ae at Gallery WE Suji, viewers are invited to encounter meditative reflections on the essence of life—layered, painting by painting, through the cyclical rhythms of the natural world.

최명애, My Garden, 2025, 112.1×145.5cm, Acrylic on Canvas

Nature repeats itself through time. The ebb and flow of tides, the crossing of sun and moon, and the return of spring after summer, autumn, and winter have continued for millennia. Nature neither rushes nor halts. Perhaps we are drawn to it because, in its boundless repetition and intrinsic order, we are offered a pause from narrow focus—a chance to see more widely, more deeply.

Installation View (2)

This exhibition takes the form of a quiet walk through the internal garden the artist has cultivated over many years—a garden shaped by accumulation, recurrence, still openings, and vibrant awakenings. While her works feature representational motifs such as plants and landscapes, their arrangement and rendering verge on abstraction. Rather than depicting singular moments, the artist poetically evokes layered memories and emotional undercurrents. The focus is not on objects, but on feeling—not on scenes, but on continuous flow.

최명애, My Garden, 2025, 130.3x97cm, Acrylic on Canvas

Her organic lines capture the trembling of leaves, the speed of passing wind, and the directions and transformations of life. The shifting weight and energy of each line echo the pulsating rhythm of living things. Instead of constructing form, her marks drift with this rhythm, flowing with the life they suggest. Color becomes an emotional resonance—a sensory response to nature. Vivid hues like yellow, deep purple, and scarlet introduce elation and tension, while pastel tones such as lilac, pink, mint, and muted grey create a contemplative atmosphere. Rather than dividing areas with lines, the artist allows line and color to breathe together, forming living textures. As a result, the work becomes not a static image, but a living garden where time and feeling coexist.

최명애, My Garden, 2025, 130.3x97cm, Acrylic on Canva

There is no trace of haste in Choi’s paintings. They evolve through repetition, erasure, and layering—gently soaking into themselves, just as nature achieves everything without urgency. The artist describes the disappearing and reappearing order of nature as “a sorrowless cycle of life.” Her paintings become internal gardens of unbroken cycles, metaphorical spaces that speak to the quiet truths of recurring life. Through her painterly language, we are invited to reflect on both the inherent principles of nature and the quiet truths embedded in our own lives.
Choi Myung Ae holds a BFA in Western Painting and an MA in Aesthetics from Seoul National University, and earned her MFA in Painting from the University of Hawai‘i. She has steadily developed a distinctive and introspective painting practice, participating in major art fairs such as the Korea International Art Fair (Kiaf SEOUL) and the Korea Galleries Art Fair.
This exhibition continues through June 28.

Gallery We
We, 25-17, Hosu-ro 52beon-gil, Suji-gu, Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea
031 266 3266

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