To celebrate the 20th Anniversary of SMWU MOONSHIN Museum, the exhibition, 「Choi Sung Sook, A World Lit by the Morning Star」, focuses on the art and world of the painter, Choi Sung Sook. This exhibition presents the artist’s diverse range of works, from her early pieces to her more recent ones, which break and transform boundaries and genres. The title, ‘A World Lit by the Morning Star,’ indicates the world captured by the ‘morning star,’ which refers to the artist herself. Mountains, fields, grass and bugs, flowers and birds, animals and people, all appear as subjects in the utopia she creates in her work.

The painter, Choi Sung Sook has developed an independent world of art by continuing to create art and hold exhibitions for around 50 years. after her first private exhibition in 1978, Choi has continued an active career by not only holding numerous solo exhibitions, but also accepting invitations to exhibit. In 1979, Choi met Moon Shin and began to include ‘art business’ in her career as an ‘artist.’ For example, she established two art museums and carried out numerous exhibitions in Korea and abroad. Choi collected a massive amount of materials while managing Moon Shin’s art business, as well as challenged and succeeded in all areas of the industry, both in Korea and abroad, where it was possible to promote Moon Shin’s art. Although it was a difficult task, Choi still managed to thrive in both being an ‘artist’ and managing an ‘art business.’

While managing two art museums and an art business, Choi Sung Sook would immerse herself into her art even more right after facing challenges of being at odds with the world or experiencing hardships in her life. When her timing and hands synchronized while working across several paintings in a single day, Choi would draw her inner side out to the world through landscapes or still life paintings that are full of memories, as well as the twelve zodiac signs doing a performance. Brush strokes with rhythm and cadence would fill the canvas like singing dots and lines that are full of life. At last, the artist’s heartful shapes would burst with dreams of wishes and desires, then land on the canvas one by one. The completed work functions as a trigger of memories, enabling the viewer to look back into their past.

This exhibition is based on three themes: , , and . First of all, presents landscapes that are visualizations of reconstructed images the artist had during her trips in Korea and abroad. The long and short brush strokes in various colors are spontaneously spread on the canvas in various ways according to seasonal changes, such as flower petals, rain, falling leaves, and snow. Secondly, in the artist is represented by twelve zodiac animals, which entertain and perform to pray for well-being and hopes. Lastly, the everyday life depicted by the artist based on her recollections about the MOONSHIN Museum in Chusan-dong of Masan, which is full of memories, and her partner Moon Shin, are featured in .

By encountering the works by Choi Sung Sook, the viewer can reflect their own experience through the art, which draws a warm memory from the back of their minds.