[2026 Frieze London] Choi Byung Hoon

Choi Byung Hoon, an artist with a unique position in the Korean art-furniture market, has merged the practical object-ness of furniture with art, with the sophisticated aesthetics of an artist, design sensibilities of a designer, and a craftsman's dexterousness. Choi’s works are not only poised, but strike a balance between crude and refined, the object and space, moment and eternity. Most of all, they find a balance between its physical structure and the affective object. The artist refuses that his art furniture be taken to the mundane likeness of sofa or bed. He compels the spectator to meditate and reflect with his work. Through physical contact, the spectator becomes one with nature, one with art. And when the spectator rises to gaze upon and contemplate the rock, the spectator will see that it is not furniture, but sculptural art. Choi has been active and has exhibited his work throughout Korea and the world, including France, the U.S., Switzerland, and various European destinations. In 2020, his work 〈Scholar’s Way〉 became a permanent installation unveiled at the opening of the new Kinder Building at the Houston Museum of Art, alongside masterworks by seven other artists such as Olafur Eliasson and Ai Weiwei. Choi’s works are in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; the Museum of Decorative Arts, Paris; the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City; the M+ Museum in Hong Kong; the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany; the Korean UN Secretariat in Geneva; the Seoul Art Center-Design Museum; the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea; and Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul.