From Brussels to Yongin, A Playground of Cement and Gold Leaf: Choe Hyesu's Finite Life

Choe Hyesu's *Playground* is made of cement and faux gold leaf. Toulon and Brussels training; Porsche and Gasong awards; Angeli Museum Prize.

Choe Hyesu, Playground n'2, 2023, cement, faux gold leaf, wax, acrylic, 72.7×91 cm

Choe Hyesu's Playground is made of cement.

And on top of that cement sits faux gold leaf. Wax and acrylic layer over it. Instead of the softness the word playground suggests, a rough, solid materiality enters first. But the moment the gold leaf wraps the cement, that solidness begins another story. The finite and the enduring, what will crumble and what tries to last, overlap on one surface.

From Toulon to Brussels

Choe Hyesu began in Toulon, France.

DNAP at Toulon's École des Beaux-Arts in 2015. The following year she moved to Brussels and entered the sculpture department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, completing her BFA in 2016 and MFA in 2019. Seven years across two European cities shaped her sculptural thinking.

In 2017 she was selected for Young Belgian Talents, introduced at Brussels Affordable Art Fair among six artists. 2016 Cachan Biennale in France, an exhibition at Paris's Gallery des AAB, 2018 Triennale de l'art et du Vegetal in Ath, Belgium — she began as a young artist based between France and Belgium.

Return to Korea: Recognition and Selection

Back in Korea, her name quickly appeared across major art-support and award programs.

2020 Mapo-gu Our Neighborhood Art-terior Project
2021 Porsche Korea Dreamers On Artists Award selection
2021 7th Gasong Art Prize Excellence Award (Dongwha Pharm / Gasong Foundation)
2023 Nowon Cultural Foundation Gyeongchun Line Forest Path Gallery & Cultural Space Jeongdam Visual Arts Exhibition Support
2024 Angeli Museum Award

In three years, Porsche, Gasong, and Angeli called her name in succession. The sculptural sensibility built in Europe received official recognition quickly on the Korean scene.

Playground — A Record of Trace

Her own artist statement starts close to the abstract.

"Choe Hyesu is a visual artist who records, through art, questions about human existence and the meaning of life. Her work arises from the process of observing and reinterpreting finite life, revealing moments of fullness and lack, connection and disconnection hidden in repeated daily life."

In 2023 she held her solo Record of Trace n'1 at Kimpo CICA Museum. The title reveals a gaze that sees traces humans leave as trace. In 2024 she followed with Drawing now 2024 at the same museum, 19th Gwanghwamun International Art Festival, and AAC Beautiful Companionship at Angeli Museum.

Two Playgrounds at SAF

Choe Hyesu, Playground n'3, 2023, cement, faux gold leaf, wax, acrylic, 72.7×91 cm

Playground n'3 — gold leaf seated on cement

Two SAF 2026 contributions.

Playground n'2 — cement, faux gold leaf, wax, acrylic, 72.7×91 cm, 2023
Playground n'3 — cement, faux gold leaf, wax, acrylic, 72.7×91 cm, 2023

Both are already sold. That the works moved to collectors near the moment of contribution shows the quick response her sculpture has drawn on the Korean collecting scene. Dongwha Pharmaceutical already holds her work.

Finite Life and Long-Staying Records

84.9% of Korean artists are excluded from institutional finance. Sales of works by SAF-exhibiting artists cycle into a mutual-aid fund, returning as low-interest loans to fellow artists.

Cement is solid, but over time it cracks. Gold leaf shines but scratches and peels. Choe Hyesu's Playground is made of materials that do not hide their finitude. SAF's solidarity likewise doesn't assume a perfect institution. A structure where one work each from different artists locks together, like cement and gold leaf, to hold up briefly the easily fragile livelihood of an artist. When finite things uphold one another's finitude, that place becomes a playground.

Between Fullness and Lack

Choe Hyesu says: "moments of fullness and lack, connection and disconnection hidden in repeated daily life."

An artist's life carries the same contrasts. Times of creative fullness and empty bank accounts, the connection of exhibition openings and the disconnection of the studio. Two Playground works for SAF 2026 are evidence — an artist who has recorded those contrasts in sculptural language now places a work, each, onto the real contrast.