In a world shaped by migration and constant movement, South Korean-born, New York–based artist Woosik Choi paints the landscapes that remain long after we leave—the places that maps forget but memory refuses to abandon. His drawings and paintings are quiet but deeply resonant spaces filled with wind, pale skies, and solitary houses that appear to be holding their breath.
“Even when a home doesn’t exist anymore,” he says, “it can still live inside someone. That is where my drawings begin.”
A Landscape That Exists Between Memory and Reality
Choi works primarily on paper with pencil, colored pencil and soft pastel. His scenes—blurred horizons, empty fields, a single house—do not describe a specific location but an emotional state. They feel like somewhere you have been, or somewhere you are still trying to return to.
In Shadow Garden, blue-tinted trees bend under invisible wind, while a quiet house rests in silence. There are no doors or windows—no invitation to enter, no promise to stay.
“I draw houses as if they’re alive,” he says, “but afraid to exhale.”
Softness as Resistance
Rather than using bold gestures or heavy color, Choi layers softness: faint pastels, pencil lines like breathing, gentle textures that feel like silence. This is not decoration—it is his form of resistance.
Muted blues, silvery greys and faded pinks dominate his palette. There are no people in his compositions, but their absence becomes a presence—the air after footsteps, the chair someone just left.
In an age of digital noise and speed, his work chooses stillness—quietly and deliberately.
Quiet Work, Global Reach
- 2022 – Main Street Arts, New York
Selected from hundreds of submissions across more than 30 U.S. states for the national juried exhibition Small Works 2022. His work was awarded Honorable Mention, marking his early recognition in the American art scene. - 2023–2025 – CICA Museum, Korea → USA → Korea
After exhibiting in Drawing Now 2023 at the CICA Museum in South Korea, Choi’s work received strong curatorial response. From that exhibition, only a few artists—including Choi—were reselected for the invitation-only international exhibition “Multiculturalism and Belonging.”
The project became a bi-national cultural collaboration, shown first at California State University San Bernardino (2024) and later returning to CICA Museum in Korea (2025). - 2025 – Publication: Turbulence: New Media Art 2025
His continued recognition led to inclusion in the museum’s international publication “Turbulence: New Media Art 2025,” archiving emerging global voices in contemporary art. - 2025 – NYCxDESIGN Festival, New York
During the NYCxDESIGN Festival, Choi was jury-selected for Fractured Horizons, curated by VSDesign × PI Art Center × ALT Alliance.
He was introduced as one of the festival’s “Renowned Artists,” a title awarded through a competitive curatorial process. His work and the exhibition were later featured in the International Business Times and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Living in Between
Migration gives an artist two views of the world—always slightly removed, always slightly longing. Choi’s work exists in that space. When asked if his landscapes belong to Korea or America, he answers:
“Neither. They live in the places between.”
Why It Matters
In a world obsessed with constant movement and productivity, Choi’s work asks us to pause and remember. To acknowledge that home is not always a structure we can return to.
“A city can change,” he says. “A house can disappear. But the wind, the light, the feeling of being there—it stays inside you. That is the home I draw.”
About Woosik Choi
Woosik Choi is a South Korean-born visual artist based in New York. Working primarily on paper with drawing and painting, he explores memory, non-physical habitation and emotional displacement. He holds an MFA from the School of Visual Arts (New York). His work has been shown at Main Street Arts, CICA Museum, California State University San Bernardino and the NYCxDESIGN Festival, where he was named a Renowned Artist.
