August 26, 2024

ArtCenter Exhibition jinseok choi: Before the Last Spike examines time, culture, memory and labor

Exhibition dates: September 11, 2024 – February 1, 2025
Opening Reception: Saturday, September 28, 2024, 5–8 p.m.

On view at the Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery. Admission is free and open to the public.

ArtCenter College of Design is proud to announce the exhibition jinseok choi: Before the Last Spike, on view September 11, 2024 through February 8, 2025. Choi showcases the conceptual elements of time, culture, and memory using historically significant artifacts. Before the Last Spike features a collection of fabric installations and multi-media wooden mask sculptures that critically examine the intangible nature of labor.

One of the most singular historic photographs to come out of 19th-century American history, the “Champagne Photo,” as it’s commonly known, celebrates the driving of the last spike that signified the completion of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. What’s missing from this image is the Chinese immigrant labor force which was integral to the success of this massive enterprise. With a nod to this historic image, Before the Last Spike presents the work of Los Angeles-based artist jinseok choi, whose art practice examines the intersection of labor, immigration and community through the objects and materials that are used or repurposed in our social and material economy.

Recognizing that the history and issue of immigration is tied to the politics of what the artist identifies as invisible labor, works featured in the exhibition are made from reclaimed items drawn from industries that have a long history with immigrant labor. Choi’s use of salvaged matter consisting of antique railroad spikes, fabric offcuts from garment sweatshops, and castoffs from his own work as an arts fabricator imbues his sculptural installation with the political discourse surrounding immigrant labor.

The exhibition title refers to the artist’s Before the Last Spike fabric installation series, which consist of recovered fabric pieces imprinted and dyed by the rust of antique railroad spikes. The series serves as a counterpoint to the Champagne Photo that omitted the Asian workforce foundational to the building of the transportation system.

In the artist’s series of masks, both the mask and incense elements are comprised of discarded wood from his fabrication commissions. In these pieces, the material evidence of labor is transformed into artworks. Choi’s selection of these materials and objects calls attention to them as residue or imprints of labor, time, memory and history that is both personal and public.

With this conceptual undergirding, these sculptures and multimedia works offer up a visual experience that at times belies the critical examination of the artist. The artist’s work allows for the materials to speak on their own terms and highlights the invisible system of labor that is also invisible in the art world.

jinseok choi received his MFA at CalArts in 2018 and has shown in multiple venues in the US and internationally including ICALA, MAK Center and galleries in Seoul, Korea. He was nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation emerging artist grant in 2020.

This project was supported, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

Location:
Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery
ArtCenter College of Design, South Campus
1111 S Arroyo Parkway
Pasadena, CA 91105
exhibitions@artcenter.edu

Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery Hours:
Wednesday through Saturday, noon–5 p.m. (Closed Sunday–Tuesday and holidays)
Admission to the gallery is free. Free parking is available at 1111 S Arroyo Parkway Pasadena, CA 91105.

For previews and special appointments, please contact: exhibitions@artcenter.edu