Meet Dasom Choi | Interdisciplinary artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Dasom Choi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dasom, what are you inspired by?
This life itself inspires me. If you say this, some people ask me if there’s anything special about being an artist. Then I laugh and say, “Our existence in today’s life is special enough.”

The traces left over the passing time, the setting sun, the living and the dead, the constantly played media, the moving programs, the cold air of dawn, the back of the walker, the deep sea, filled water, fish, and the space allowed to breathe. I observe the verbal and nonverbal exchanges between the world and the ‘human’ and search for answers on my own. My works are small traces I found along the way.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My art world has a story. I am also one of the public living now, and the artistic voice I make can communicate with others. My works talk about personal stories, but they talk about experiences that humans have no choice but to meet in life and internal changes in the process. I heard the most from the audience during the exhibition that the audience can empathize with my works. I know the solid non-verbal voice of my work.

Until I became the person I am now, I constantly doubted, asked, and pressed myself. Artists are beings who find answers on their own. They study the world through the selected materials and create their own art language to answer the questions they find. And communicate with the world again through the answers. Until I realized this process, I threw myself against the wall, broke, and woke up again. Even if people said a fine arts major was not good for my future, I changed my major. After suddenly taking a leave of absence from the university I attended in Korea (I worked hard in school enough to be a grade representative), I prepared to transfer to a foreign university again, studied English, and dropped into an unfamiliar environment. I still remember when I changed my major to Painting, I was crying. These are reasons why I, weak, never gave up on finding my dream. When I went to Korea for my first summer vacation after studying abroad, I cried a lot in front of my parents because it was so hard. At that time, my parents asked me if I wanted to return to Korea, and I cried and said I would return to the United States.

What’s interesting about studying abroad is that there is a gap during my absence. When I meet people who know me before I start studying abroad, they say I have completely changed. I have never changed. I am just digging myself out and understanding myself. In all this, I learned to challenge and reach what I want. I want to know the world rather than want the world to know.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
If my friends come to Atlanta, I want to go to the aquarium with a specially selected music list on weekdays when there are relatively few people, and I want to watch and enjoy the whale shark I like there. For lunch on the weekend, I will go to Café Intermezzo and enjoy the city’s noise while eating hot chocolate and latte. I will go to Poncity Market in the afternoon, buy drinks and snacks, and walk on the promenade. If the day is nice, I will go to the graffiti-filled railroad track, take pictures, and stop by the High Museum to enjoy the works. When the sun goes down, I want to go to a pub in the city with a rooftop and enjoy the night view of Atlanta. I want a relaxing time with picnic boxes and ingredients to draw in Piedmont Park.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
I want to thank so many people for this, but first of all, my parents. I don’t think I am a talented or intelligent person. When I was young, I was even later to learn than others. However, my parents know my sensitive gaze and supported education. I am the first international student in my family. Both of my parents wanted to study abroad, but they gave up their dreams for many reasons. So, my parents trust and support me no matter what kind of study I choose. Against this background, I can study painting, a genre of fine art that is not popular because it is difficult to get a job in Korea. The reason why I can study motion media as a second major, study sculpture as a minor, and receive twice as much education as others is because my parents generously support my desire for knowledge.

It was the professors and people who recognized me.
In particular, I would like to mention Justin Archer, a sculpture professor at SCAD. He was the first sculpture professor I met. At the time, I was not satisfied with the painting major education curriculum, so I was wandering around, looking for another school. But after meeting him, I got the education I wanted. With his suggestion, I applied for open calls and contests in South Korea, and one of them was elected, and I started my career as an artist. I liked his teaching so much that I began to learn sculpture as a minor. As a Senior student, I have finished three solo exhibitions, two group exhibitions, and two curation exhibitions. He is the professor I respect the most and the educator I want to resemble the most.

Another professor is Wesley Terpstra, who teaches foundation.
He belongs to the foundation department, but he teched a painting major class in the past. At that time, I took a painting major class that I wanted. He is not a painting major professor, and I don’t take his class anymore, but he is willing to meet me and give me a lot of advice when I ask. And he is still the painting professor I want to learn the most.

I want to mention Stephen Thorpe, who has now quit professor and left school but still does a wonderful job as an artist. He told me the world what abstract art is. I didn’t even know my works were close to the category of abstract art until I took his class. His class was never easy, but it was very precious to me. He told me never to stop painting. I still miss his class at school.

Thank you so much to the CEO of the gallery ‘Artspace I: SEAK’ in Seoul, Korea, where I had my first solo exhibition.
She saw my first fish work and gave me a chance, and she gave me realistic advice and support every time when i visited Korea. I know how big it is. That interest and support make me stand only as a writer. For me, Gallery ‘Artspace I: SEAK’ is the mother gallery. No matter what path I took as a writer in the future, this was my beginning.

It’s a community with friends who support me.
People who like my work and respect me can continue to challenge, learn, and move forward no matter what country I go to. I would never have reached this far if I were alone.

Finally, thank you to myself.
I have a lot of loneliness and sadness. Even if I sink into feelings of denial, I do not die, and I understand them and grow together. I am grateful to myself in the past, who ran tirelessly to find my dream, who did not give up even if not everyone recognized me, and who challenged me again even though it was hard.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somsum_artist/

Other: Since I have a double major in painting and motion media, the websites for media and fine art are different. The website for fine art is being revised now, so I will share only the link to the website for media. https://www.somcmo.com/