Korean Roulette Analysis

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The artist, Sung Ho Choi, is a Korean immigrant who came to the United States in 1981. In 1997, Sung Ho Choi described himself as “… a bi-cultural artist, [who] have depicted the experience of being the "other," of contrasts and complexities of a minority existing within a majority. Immigrating to the U.S. had a profound effect on [his] art, and [he believes] it has expanded [his] themes and medium [in his artworks], which is demonstrated by the fact that [his artworks show] contrast to other Asian artists treating similar themes… [His] artistic goal is to pursue the theme of contrasting identities in a society that is becoming more multi-cultural, and how to define this in "American" terms” (http://www.nyc.gov/html/dcla/html/panyc/choi.shtml).…show more content…
The Artasiamerica.org described, “The mixed-media installation incorporates four arms mounted on a circular disc that rotates like a fan. Vegetables and daily necessities sold in the ubiquitous Korean groceries (where Choi worked to support himself) are arranged in a circle around the disc-like clock numbers. At the end of the fan arms are four bloody hands that endlessly circle over the store items” (http://artasiamerica.org/works/819). In late 1900s, many Koreans migrated to America with their American dreams. Many Korean immigrants opened their stores in California, especially in Los Angeles. Around the circular disc, there are many products such as fruits which many Korean groceries sold. Also, the background of the circular disc is job advertisement in old newspapers. Korean immigrants were enthusiastic about working any kind of labors and jobs to earn money for their American dreams such as their career goals and for their families. Korean immigrants and African Americans’ relationship turned violent when one Korean shop owner shot a female African American claiming that female African American stole the orange juice from the store. Many African American were mad because before the death of the female African American, polices brutally beat up another African American. Riot happened at Log Angeles where many Korean stores were. Since the National Guard or…show more content…
AAA-A.org described that “‘Dreamscape’ is constructed of a shallow grid made of lottery tickets showing an image of mountains. This work innovates the intersection of logic and emotions. These patterns of waves have various directions in which they crash, collide, and affirm one another within the same image. In a way, this work resembles the indecisive human mind of how we often fight with our antagonistic impulses.” (http://www.aaa-a.org/events/sung-ho-choi-american-dream/) When I first looked at this artwork, I thought of the Korean traditional drawing of mountains. However, when I looked closer it seems like the waves are colliding towards each other and creates very complex thoughts and emotions. As a Korean immigrant, this artwork represents my mind when I first came to America when I had a hard time to adjust to American culture and its society. As two cultures mixed, Korean and American, I often wondered about my true identity and was not able to see my surroundings clearly. This artwork shows the confusion of a person’s identity and various cultures mixing together in a mind of person who migrated from other country. Also, he made this artwork by using the lottery tickets. When I was young, my father used bring me to a lottery store and filling out the lottery ticket with me. I always saw many people in that store, and I thought Korean people likes lotto

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