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Daily Art Moment: Sang-Ah Choi

September 5, 2020
Sang-Ah Choi (Korean, active United States, born 1971), All you can eat—Holiday everyday, Transcontinental flower and bird painting: NY to OR, Rainbow, 70 x 128 x 7 inches, mixed media. A photograph of three wide, white horizontal shelves each containing a different assortment of objects against a white wall. The top shelf holds stuffed animals and plush toys representing holidays beginning with Valentine’s Day: three teddy bears, a pink frog, a Tigger and a dog. Next is Easter with six stuffed rabbits and teddy bears with bunny ears. Five bears and a dog in red, white and blue representing the Fourth of July are followed by five plush toys representing Halloween pumpkins and witches. A turkey and pilgrims represent Thanksgiving. Finally, five toy penguins, snowmen, dogs and a Santa represent Christmas. The middle shelf holds fourteen highly detailed and layered paper dioramas. They show highways intersecting, billboards, fast food and hotel signs, along with state birds and highway markers. The bottom shelf holds an array of breakfast cereal boxes arranged according to the rainbow. They stand side by side, facing front and begin with Lucky Charms (red), continuing on to Fruit Loops (red-orange), Reese’s Puffs (orange), Mini Wheats (light orange), Honey Comb (deep yellow), Cheerios (yellow), Apple Jacks (green), Apple Cinnamon Cheerios (green), Cookie Crisp (blue), Rice Krispies (blue), Frosted Cheerios (deep blue), Frosted Flakes (deep blue), Multi-Grain Cheerios (purple), Raisin Bran (violet). 2 and 3. Each diorama is structured like a tall box sitting on end with the front and top removed. Inside, cut out shapes depict various things: overlapping roadways, highway signs, billboards, state birds and flowers and vehicles. The shapes are composed of heavy paper or cardboard and are layered to achieve a three-dimensional effect going from low in the front to higher at the back of the box. The shapes are brightly colored and solid or black cut out outlines of the object they depict. Each diorama is crammed with images so close inspection is necessary to discern which state is represented.

“Sang-ah Choi’s installation ‘All you can eat—Holiday everyday, Transcontinental flower and bird painting: NY to OR, Rainbow’ chronicles the artist’s cross-country road trip from New York to Oregon. As a foreign-born American, Choi’s installation reflects the dissonance in understanding the American landscape and culture through consumption and excess. An installation of three shelves, the top shelf displays an arrangement of stuffed animals and plush toys lined up in chronological order by holiday. On the lower shelf, cereal boxes are organized in a rainbow spectrum. The middle shelf presents a more complicated and layered expression of the cultural disparity experienced by Choi. Intricately and densely made, each pop-up diorama, inspired by the boxiness of a McDonald’s Happy Meal package, details Choi’s road trip. Each state is represented by a state bird and flower and further layered by the actual road trip itself—a landscape of highways, motels, chain restaurants, gas stations, and road signs.

Additionally, Choi incorporates the traditional Korean format of Ship-jangsaeng (십장생, Ten Symbols of Longevity), originally a Daoist expression of the wish for a long and healthy life represented all from nature: sun, mountain, cloud, water, rock/stone, crane, deer, turtle, mushroom, and pine tree. These motifs, shown in a cartoon-like illustration, weave playfully throughout the entire panoramic scene. Encountering a new culture shifting through impressions of the great American stores and wide-open roads, Choi wrote of the experience: ‘Being a foreigner in a different culture was an overwhelming yet exciting experience for me. At first, I thought the language was the only challenge since I felt that I had been exposed to American pop culture in Korea throughout my upbringing. But soon, I realized the cultural ramp-up is a long process—knowing it is not the same as living it.’ “

—Grace Kook-Anderson, The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Curator of Northwest Art

  • Detail of three dioramas representing from left Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Oregon features the Western Meadowlark, the Oregon grape, two stylized pine trees, geese in flight, a cloud, a lighthouse combined with a green highway sign that reads “South, Beaverton, Salem” with an Interstate 5 shield marker. A large blue sign reads “View Point” at upper right and a “Speed limit 60, Trucks 55” road sign is a cutout outline and is positioned at lower left. Washington features an American Goldfinch and the Coast Rhododendron, the Space Needle, the Public Market sign, a brown park sign for the Lewis and Clark Trail amid signs for Carl’s Jr, Shell gas station and Subway sandwiches, Tersoro and EconoLodge. Idaho features the Mountain Bluebird, the Mock Orange flower, a Silver Mountain Recreation Area sign, a Welcome to Idaho sign, geese and a mushroom along with signs for Conoco, Subway, Exxon, a stop sign and a Interstate 90 shield marker.
  • Detail of three dioramas representing from left Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota. Montana features the Western Meadowlark, the Bitterroot flower, bison, a windmill, a green highway sign for Zoo Drive, signs for McDonalds, Conoco, Pilot, Red Lion Hotels, Days Inn and a Welcome to Montana sign. Wyoming features the Western Meadowlark, the Indian Paintbrush flower, cows, Devil’s Tower and signs for McDonald’s, Super8 Motel, Interstate 90 and a Wyoming Welcomes You sign. South Dakota features the Common Pheasant, the American Pasque flower, images for Mt Rushmore, signs for the Badlands Loop and Scenic Byway, as well as signs for Wendy’s, Cenex and bp.
View the work in our online collection

Sang-Ah Choi (Korean, active United States, born 1971). All you can eat—Holiday everyday, Transcontinental flower and bird painting: NY to OR, Rainbow, 2007–2012. Mixed media. Museum Purchase: The Arlene and Harold Schnitzer Endowment for Northwest Art and the Northwest Art Council, 2013.66.1a-fff © Sang-Ah Choi

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