Choi Jeong Hwa is a Korean artist/designer and founding member of the Korean Pop Art movement. His whimsical and colourful sculptures, made from mass produced consumer products, are influenced, in part, by the many stupas he has observed in the mountains of Korea. “All standing things are stupas,” he says, “A tree is a stupa, and the man is a stupa. They bear folk religion, shamanism, and Buddhism.” He believes this traditional form of a monument can be expressed in many different ways, using a wide variety of materials. And it is his love of everyday objects that helps him create modern renditions of stupas. “Every material found in the kitchen, your room, the streets – everything in everyday life can be art.” Like the old adage says – one man’s junk is another man’s treasure.
