Karma by Choi Young Wook – Moon Jars and Memory at AP Space
Explore Karma, Choi Young Wook’s moon jar series at AP Space—a quiet yet powerful fusion of Eastern tradition and Western expression. A meditation on fate, memory, and the human journey.
There are objects that hold history, and then there are those that hold the artist. In Karma, Choi Young Wook’s latest exhibition at AP Space, the moon jar—an iconic Korean vessel from the Joseon era—becomes not just a subject, but a symbol of the artist’s life, philosophy, and search for meaning.
AP Space is proud to represent Choi Young Wook (b. 1964), a Western-style painter whose devotion to the moon jar has defined his artistic identity. Over the past fifteen years, Choi has returned to this form again and again—not to repeat it, but to rediscover it. With each canvas, he offers a new interpretation, a new conversation, and a new echo of memory.
Choi Young Wook completed his BFA in Painting at Hongik University in 1991 and went on to receive his MFA in 2000. His first solo exhibition was held in 1992, launching a career marked by careful evolution and unwavering introspection. What began as traditional still life grew into a meditative practice—one rooted in both Eastern heritage and Western visual language.
The turning point came during travels through Europe and the United States, where Choi encountered a Joseon-era moon jar in a museum. Captivated by its quiet elegance, imperfect symmetry, and philosophical resonance, he began researching, collecting, and eventually painting moon jars obsessively. What started as inspiration became devotion. What began as a subject became a self-portrait.
Today, Choi’s moon jars are not replicas. They are emotional landscapes—compositions that reflect fragility, resilience, silence, and connection. Through them, he reflects not only his personal journey, but the human experience itself.
Choi’s paintings are distinguished by the way they blend East Asian minimalism with Western painterly expression. Using pencil to inscribe intricate lines within the soft curves of the moon jar, he avoids literal realism in favor of psychological depth. His brushstrokes aren’t simply visual—they’re spiritual. They speak to memory, loss, and the invisible threads that bind us to others and to ourselves.
In Karma, the jar becomes a metaphor for fate. The lines within it, Choi says, are not ceramic cracks or decorative marks—they are life paths. They intersect and diverge, echoing how relationships form, break, reconnect, and evolve. “The line,” he writes, “is our life path. They meet and separate as if they are divided and connected… laughter and crying… and in the end, a certain energy that encompasses them all.”
This is what Karma offers viewers: not just visual beauty, but philosophical reflection. Choi doesn’t paint to display—he paints to understand. Each moon jar is a map, and each line a moment within the vast terrain of life.
Choi Young Wook’s work has been acquired by institutions and collectors around the world, including the Philadelphia Museum, the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Korea, Luxembourg Palace, the Bill Gates Foundation, Gianni Versace, SK Group, Lotte Group, and Korean Air. Despite this acclaim, his work maintains a grounded humility—rooted in introspection rather than spectacle.
His moon jars are not loud declarations, but soft echoes—timeless, meditative, and deeply human. They speak to those willing to pause, look inward, and listen.
