From September 17 to 22, the third-floor Gallery 1 at Insa Art Center hosted sculptor Choo Eun-young’s solo exhibition Ataraxia. Borrowing its title from Greek philosophy, the show reimagined the concept of inner tranquility as an aesthetic and structural language.

“Ataraxia,” Choo explains, “is a state of calm beyond the turbulence of desire. Desire drives humanity forward, yet it also creates conflict and destruction. My focus is on how that energy can be restructured and transformed into balance.”

At the heart of her practice lies a motif she has carried for over two decades: the frog. First appearing in 2003 as kinetic wooden sculptures, the frog has since evolved into refined, static forms. “The frog leaps and writhes — much like human desire. In this exhibition, however, I sealed that vitality within form. It’s tension contained inside tranquility.”

What begins as an animal figure extends into psychological and social allegory. 

Desire as both engine of progress and root of anxiety applies not only to individuals but to science, society, and history itself. 

Choo cites the black hole and the climate crisis as metaphors: “A black hole devours everything until nothing remains. Climate change, too, is the result of human desire turned against us.”

Her interdisciplinary approach reflects a studio overflowing with books, notes, and newspaper clippings. “Art is a way of structuring thought three-dimensionally,” she says. “As I carve wood or weld metal, I read and expand my thinking. My studio is both a workshop and a laboratory of ideas.”

The sculptures resist polish. Metal textures, wood grains, and deliberate rough traces suggest that desire can never be fully erased. Calmness here is not pure absence but a state of balance that holds tension within.

Viewers are invited to become participants rather than passive observers. The works do not dictate meaning but awaken personal memories of desire, anxiety, or peace — what Choo calls “ataraxia as experience.”

Her public-facing ethos underscores this approach. “Art is not a taxidermied object but a medium of dialogue,” she insists, designing exhibitions as immersive structures that encourage audiences to walk, breathe, and reflect within them.

Ultimately, Ataraxia embodies Choo’s enduring question: how can opposing forces of desire and tranquility be given form? 

The sculptures become more than material objects; they are psychological landscapes and metaphoric devices of their time. Standing before them, one steps briefly into a structure of stillness where desire is momentarily suspended.

Choo Eun-young received her BFA and PhD in Sculpture from Hongik University.