▲ Artist Choi Nam-ju

Obsession in mountains
During his 32 years of services as an elementary school teacher, he never once gave up his dream of being a full time artist by painting every now and then. Mountains for him has a fateful meaning as he connects his first name Choi in Chinese (崔) to containing the word mountain (山). For this reason, he pours his attachment to mountains and nature as well as his imaginations into his mountain-themed works. The art critic Hong Gyeong-han said “Mountains in his works are an object of his mind rather than a visual image as whole.” And the object of his mind implies a symbol of our goal, self-achievement and desire for money and fame that we have to keep climbing up to reach the peak. Choi explains “People Climbing the Golden Mountain, which is one of my many works, is a good example of our desire to ever climb up higher and higher.” If the mountains in Choi’s works were expressed with simple tools in the past, they are done with unique materials today with emphasis on lights and shades inspired by crumpled papers. “God created light first and the light doesn’t necessary mean the light in the sky but the light in our heart which is spiritual. Mountains in this respect can be the shades of the lights.” Choi indeed pays a great amount of time and effort to mountains but he also does occasionally to Goguryeo murals to wish the unification of the two Koreas hoping to bring back the spirit and the glory of the old kingdom. “I live in Guri City where Goguryeo remains are abundant when compared to any other regions in South Korea. So it was natural for me to bring up the idea. I will keep continuing my passion in art with new goals and new ideas for as long as I can last as art has become greater part of my life.”