Elly Cho is one of ArtConnect’s Artists to Watch '22

Elly Cho has exhibited around the world and holds numerous awards. Her art explores the intersection between nature, the environment and human behaviour, across various mediums including mixed media, video and performance art. Cho’s approach to art making, is largely inspired by the relationship between nature, environment and the viewer’s perception to nature based on their personal history. She approaches the subject matter of cultural landscapes in narrative form, and these narratives often relate to her own life experiences and memories.

Cho’s awards include Sunny Art Prize in London, Award Winner of The Best Silent Film, Best Dance Choreography Film, Best Experimental Film and Best Director at New York International Film Awards, ARFF Berlin ARFF Barcelona /Around International Film Festival, Oniros Film Awards, Best Actor & Director Awards New York among others. Her work has screened at film festivals such as 'AVIFF' Cannes Art Film Festival and many more."

ArtConnect asked the winning artists to share with us a glimpse into their creative life to get a sense of their personal inspiration and artistic process.

How did you get started as an artist?

My dream was to become a painter since the age of 5. I then went to an art middle school in Korea . It has always been my goal to be an artist since a young age. I never doubted that.

How would you describe your artistic approach?

My approach to art making, is largely inspired by the relationship between nature, environment and the viewer’s perception to nature based on their personal history.

I approach the subject matter of cultural landscapes in narrative form, and these narratives often relate to my own life experiences and memories. In her video work, I have used familiar landscapes that stimulate viewers to engage with an imaginative response. Through my work, I seek to instill in the viewer a highly charged but nostalgic awareness of things long since past. I aim to experiment further, encouraging political engagement that allows both artwork and environment to jointly contribute to current artistic discourse.

And how about what inspires you?

I get inspired by painters such as Marc Chagall, William Turner, Jan van Eyck, Willem de Kooning, Francis Bacon, and Mark Rothko and many other contemporary artists. I feel that my inspiration will always be slightly different each time but the core subject about the nature and the preciousness of the species in this world, that will always inspires me in my work. For example, in my video piece Island, it depicts the life in an Island which comes from my own experience of living in Islands. I Use island as a metaphor for life, the Repeated daily life and as a cross concept of reality and fantasy. And my painting project currently deals with pure joy of beauty found in nature. I also get inspired by philosopher such as Gille Deleuze.

What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as an artist?

I had been struggling with time management. Since I deal with variety of genre in my artworks, each genre need time to develop into a finished work. For example when I stared performance piece for the first time a few years ago, it took me almost a year to finish the piece because it started off as a video piece and then developed into a performance.

Even for the video pieces I make series of work within the same project and it takes time to develop and therefore I have less time for paintings. I think for 10 years or so between 2009 and 2019, I had hard time to do paintings because of my video projects and residencies concentrating on video works. I think residencies help me to move forward with the thinking process through experimenting stuff.

Describe a typical day in the studio/wherever you make your work.

The most prolific time of the day would be early afternoon for me. I begin doing a research for the piece I will be working on in the morning. It usually takes a few days or just a day. It depends on the complication of the project I am working on. I like planning my day, week or even a months for my work schedule. Often I have hard time doing two kind of media at the same time so I start with drawings and then plan the piece one medium at the time. I actually read and write while I am exercising at the gym. Mostly the writings will be a poem or ideas for my work that comes up to my mind. I then go back to studio and finish writing or putting it into an actual artwork the next day.

Is there a medium, a process, or a technique that you haven't used in your work yet but would like to try out?

Yes. I 'd like to work with musicians/composers. I have been working with composers for my video pieces but I have some experimental ideas for my forth coming film. I would like to explore an idea of using music in the documentary film, an idea I have about climate change which is an experimental documentary working with dancers, composers and singers. This will also employ using techniques of visual art by contemporary artist in the documentary film. I first want to explore on this idea by start working with a composer.

What are you currently working on? Or an upcoming project you want to mention?

As I mentioned earlier I am putting down my ideas about the experimental documentary. But I am currently working on an experimental dance piece which I plan to film in Jeju-Island. This is also part of the process of my documentary piece mentioned earlier. The dance film will deal with how we connect ourselves with sounding nature and ecological consciousness through our body which can transform us into a positive action towards ecological concerns including climate change.

How does it feel to be selected as an ArtConnect Artist to Watch?

If feels wonderful to be featured in your platform. I feel this opportunity will help greatly with developing my future projects. Thank you for selecting me as an ArtConnect Artist to Watch.

Anything else you want to add?

I value existence of all species in our world. I think we should value them in a way that we value ourselves. Often people forget about it and just remotely live life. As an artist, I try to remind those factors in my work continuously with various media. Depending on the project, there are better media to express or communicate with the viewer and I try to use the best possible way to communicate with the viewer in my work. I simply love creating art. It is a joy of my life but at the same time, I enjoy the process of creating an artwork whether from my memories or from a book inspiration.

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