Rala Choi is a photographer, whose vivid, ethereal images draw on the legacies of art history. Through a colour palate saturated with a painterly quality, Rala Choi's photographs create expressive depictions of our inner worlds and relationships.
Following a successful few years in which Choi has had two sold-out solo shows in Seoul, the South Korean photographer was recently awarded the Grand Prix at the 37th International Festival of Fashion, Photography and Accessories, Hyères, which was exhibited at the Villa Noailles in 2022.
Rala Choi's auction debut with 'a woman lying on the sofa' which soared to £27,940, over double the estimate at Phillips' Photographs Auction in May 2023. Choi's experimentation with photography began after he'd enlisted in the military in 2006. He then spent a few years making commercial and commission-based work, but this never felt quite right. Choi explains it was the support of musicians and friends that allowed him to immerse himself in more self-directed artworks. For him, the creative process needed distilling into a more intimate process of production; the results are personal reflections of universal emotional experiences.
Choi describes his process as beginning with contemplation, then sketches, before a scene materialises, likely illuminated solely by natural light, in which feelings are expressed through colour, character, and Choi's signature painterly quality.