NAMWON CHOI

March 21 - May 3, 2025

OPENING RECEPTION & DIALOGUE: Friday, March 21 | 6 - 8 PM. 
Dialogue with the artist from 6 - 6:30 PM.

Pentimenti is proud to present "Blue Highway", Namwon Choi’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.

"Blue Highway" explores moments in motion, inviting viewers to experience a journey through Choi’s perspective from the car. Drawing inspiration from her family road trips, Choi captures intimate experiences shaped by distance and the act of seeing loved ones from afar. For her, distance is more than just a measurement—it carries deep emotion. Through her paintings and 3D paintings on unconventional supports, she constructs a nontraditional family portrait, exploring the connections that arise from physical and emotional space.

Choi’s hyperrealist, hyperpigmented paintings originate from iPhone dashboard photos, using photoresist techniques with acrylic, gouache on shaped wood panels. While blue dominates her palette, vivid colors referencing road signs add movement and familiarity. Open highways suggest uncertainty, while foliage, landforms, and shifting skies evoke wonder.

This exhibition features both paintings and sculptural works. "248 Miles (Half Barricade)" and "248 Miles (Diamond Sign Stand)" resemble highway barricades, with blue highways painted onto them, creating a contrast in scale and meaning. The detailed scenes suggest movement, the barricades signal caution. Another series, "248 Miles (Three Circles 1)" and "248 Miles (Six Circles 2)", echoes stoplights while also referencing Choi's Korean heritage, where the circle symbolizes heaven. These works reflect her perspective on family, portraying parents and children bound together on the same journey.

Namwon Choi received her BFA and MFA in Oriental Painting from Hongik University and an MFA in Drawing and Painting from Georgia State University. She has exhibited at institutions including the Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta, GA; Moss Arts Center, Blacksburg, VA; the Macon Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, GA; Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta, GA; the Korean Cultural Center in Washington, D.C.; Gallery Korea at the Korean Cultural Center of New York, NY; the Wiregrass Museum of Art, Dothan, AL; the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, CA; and The Low Museum, Atlanta, GA.

Choi has participated in numerous residencies and received several prestigious awards, including the MOCA GA Working Artist Project, Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia, Atlanta, GA; MASS MoCA Residency, North Adams, MA; Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) Fellowship, Amherst, VA; River Fellow Summer Resident Artist Program at Columbus State University, Columbus, GA; and the Creative Community Housing Project Artist-in-Residence at The Creative Project, Atlanta, GA.

ADDITIONAL EVENTS | OLD CITY GALLERY WALK: Friday, April 4 & May 2 | 5 - 8 PM.

For inquiries, please contact mail@pentimenti.com or +1 215 625 9990.  The gallery is free and open to the public.