In her latest body of work, Arang Choi continues her exploration of painting as a space where perception and imagination intertwine. Each composition evolves through a slow, deliberate process of layering translucent tones and glazes. This build-up of surfaces allows light to move through the work, giving the impression of images that hover between appearance and disappearance.

For these new paintings, Choi draws inspiration from Baroque grisaille, a technique based entirely on shades of grey, and from the optical play of trompe-l’œil, which imitates shallow relief. Working with a restricted palette, she builds spatial depth through tonal contrast rather than relying on colour alone, creating a finely balanced interplay of light and shadow that sharpens the viewer’s sensitivity to surface and form. Through this modulation, the image reveals a visual quietude, inviting prolonged observation.

At the heart of Choi’s work is Emulb, a recurring figure whose name is a deliberate rearrangement of the letters in ‘Blume’ (German for flower), reflecting its deep connection to the organic and the garden setting. This shape-shifting anthropomorphic being embodies the idea of a unified and soulful existence. Appearing differently in each painting, this mutable figure moves through surreal landscapes that feel both mystical and familiar. Emulb acts as a guide and companion—sometimes visible, sometimes almost dissolved within the layered composition—leading the viewer through a world in which boundaries between figure and ground, matter and spirit, continuously dissolve.

A long-standing fascination with fungi also shapes Choi’s visual language. The exhibition title, Cladonia Garden, refers both to a painting within the exhibition and to the Cladonia genus, whose branching, organic forms mirror the way her imagined worlds blend and grow into one another. In the painting Cladonia Garden, soft fungal structures rise from the ground, and a pair of subtle red eyes—belonging to Emulb—glow from within the scene. These quiet eyes act as an entry point into the painting, signalling Emulb’s presence even when its full form remains hidden.

Choi’s practice reveals painting as both a material and contemplative process. Through her precise modulation of tone and space, she constructs images that open gradually, inviting quiet attention and introspection. Her paintings encourage a way of seeing that is as fluid and transformative as the being of Emulb itself—an invitation to perceive continuity where opposites meet, and to experience painting as a living, breathing presence.

Arang Choi (b. 1992, Seoul) lives and works in Vienna. She studied at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf under Prof. Andreas Schulze (2019–2020) and at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna with Kirsi Mikkola, Daniel Richter, Francis Ruyter and Alastair MacKinven (2016–2023).

Recent exhibitions include Behind Open Eyes, Elektrohalle Rhomberg, Salzburg (2025); Art Cologne with Elektrohalle Rhomberg (2024); a solo presentation at nouveaux deuxdeux, Munich (2024); Spark Art Fair Vienna (2023/2024); Three Moons, Elektrohalle Rhomberg (2023); and group exhibitions at Bloom Gallery, Saint-Tropez (2023) and Unit 1 Gallery, London (2022).