“All of a sudden,” the artist writes, “I realized that we all were like bowls. Whatever the shape, we are all precious and deserve to be filled in.” – Sun Choe

Sun Choe uses a strictly minimalist color palette to concentrate upon the form and essence of a single object, such as a bowl, house, and candle. By repeatedly painting these forms in sketch-like strokes, Choe obtains a transcendent state of religious discovery. 

At first glance, Sun Choe’s painting Pray (2014) appears to hold up to the serene and contemplative image suggested by its title. Yet a closer glance reveals a clutter of broad brushstrokes, a rough-hewn canvas, and hazy boundaries between the outline of the depicted bowl and its background. The painting is analogous to the act of prayer itself, where a calm exterior belies the storms of thought and concentration swirling beneath.

Point of Time (2018) follows a lineage of artists inspired by the Korean moon jar’s uniquely rotund shape. Criss-crossing lines slash through the painting, imbuing the jar with an uneasy energy and creating a compelling tension between negative and positive space on the canvas.