Ron Choi
Elegy: Paintings and Drawings
October 10 - 31, 2008
STATEMENT
The paintings in this show began as two separate series dealing with cultural memory. All through my childhood I had listened to the laments of my parents about how the tumult of China in the first half of the twentieth century had affected their lives. A few years ago I came across a new book of early twentieth century photographs of China made by the Italian Jesuit missionary, Leone Nani. Through these photographs I was able for the first time to empathize with my parents' histories. It inspired me to use them as a basis for a series of black and white paintings. In the second series, I was interested in conveying my response to these "reconstructed" memories through the use of color. Lastly the set of drawings on Chinese menu was my response to the question of "What modern art means?" for Chinese American.
BIOGRAPHY
Ron Choi is a Chinese American artist. He was born in Hong Kong and came to United States when he was young. He received his MFA from Hunter College and has been living in New York for almost twenty years. He has exhibited in Seattle and Hong Kong. He returned to Hong Kong and taught art at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong University for one year.