Heejun Choi — Care yourself
Oil pastel on canvas
243.8 x 182.8 cm
2023

Care yourself
Oil pastel on canvas
243.8 x 182.8 cm
2023

Untitled
Oil pastel on canvas
152.5 x 193 cm
2023

Two girls are observing the Death
Oil on canvas
104 x 122 cm
2023

People are looking at the Death
Oil on canvas
150 x 100cm
2022

The temptation of the Deaths
Oil on canvas
50 x 100 cm
2023

Heejun Choi

The start of the 'Grey World' project is in February 2022. It was when my friend, who attended the same school as me and deeply loved art, passed away. I blamed myself for not stopping my friend's death. And there was fear of my feelings of understanding my friend's choice. I didn't go to school for about two weeks because I couldn't work on my work with an uneasy mind. My friends at school and the Koreans I met in Glasgow knew I had lost a friend, but they didn't look for me. I understand their actions now, but I experienced total isolation then. I was like a dead person, lying in bed like a corpse, looking only at the ceiling.
Being black and white, I felt trapped in a grey world. I had a foolish conviction that no one would find me, even if I disappeared or died. However, when I entered my 10th day in isolation at home, I thought I could make my colour and world even if I were in that grey world.

Through the Grey World project, I would like to break away from the social perception that solitude will soon lead to death and convey that solitude can quickly mark the beginning of another world. The characters in the paintings are made up of various colours. I want to share that anyone can make the world with their colour, not the skin colour we commonly think of.