Art Critic Louis Choi Chul-joo
Contemporary ArtReview Cecilia Gallerani
Art Critic Louis Choi Chul-joo Criticism [77] morning glory · Cecilia Gallerani, Modern Contemporary Art Critic Louis Choi Chul-joo's Criticism of Contemporary Art & Design Criticism of Contemporary Art = Contemporary Art Today contemporary artworks contemporary artist Choi Chul-joo's Art Criticism, Contemporary Abstract Art Painter Criticism: Choi Chul-joo Desire Concept Abstract pop art combines the abstract conceptual approach of the other's desire art with the design form and linguistic abstract image of pop art. His concept of desire, or conceptual abstract art, appears, and a picture that conflicts with the concept of linguistic meaning emphasized in metaphysical philosophical light creates a dramatic event image with artificial lighting. & Abstract contemporary art that designed modern art abstract painting: Contemporary artist Louis Choi Chul-joo's realistic abstract work criticism of antinomical contemporary art as a conceptual art of treachery based on the concept of desire of others and Contemporary Art Critic Louis Choi Chul-joo's Contemporary Art work criticism: Design Process of Contemporary Artist and Contemporary Concept Abstract Painter Concept Abstract Art Work Critique: As Contemporary Concept Abstract Art, the artistry of aesthetic value was examined through visual art theory, and Choi Chul-joo, a Contemporary Concept Abstract Painter and Critic, was his Through "morning glory" works, perceptions and aesthetic structures are often interpreted by reflecting abstract conceptions of desire and linguistic semantic structure, resulting in abstraction of the same real image as the linguistic meaning of abstract desire.: morning glory · Cecilia Gallerani, Louis Choi Chul-joo, morning glory · Cecilia Gallerani, 39.4×49.4Cm, acrylic and composite materials on cloth, 2025
Louis Choi Chul-joo, morning glory · Cecilia Gallerani, 39.4×49.4Cm, acrylic and composite materials on cloth, 2025
In Leonardo da Vinci’s Lady with an Ermine, the symbolic structure of the ermine reveals not only the social alienation of the woman portrayed—Cecilia Gallerani—but also the fragmented subjectivity of the ermine itself, which, within the contemporaneous structure of desire, becomes a vector of meaning that transcends its zoological form. This vector, emerging from the synchronic repetition of linguistic signification within the sociocultural matrix of the time, bifurcates into a pre-linguistic ontological image, thereby transferring the alienated woman and the desiring subject of the ermine into the realm of abstraction.
The moment this abstract structure of linguistic meaning is connected to a symbolic allegory—where the conceptual object of instantaneous desire is projected onto the real existence of Gallerani and the virtual presence of the ermine—the background motif of the “morning glory” emerges as a temporal and symbolic field shaped by the reversible light that once illuminated the subject. Within this field, Gallerani, unable to anchor herself in a fixed position, is seen harmonizing with the morning glory, which itself becomes a spatialized allegory of desire. The temporally refracted light, cast retroactively upon the morning glory, renders Gallerani as a phenomenological abstraction of realist structure.
The movement of the ermine, as a symbolic subject, is arrested and linked to Gallerani through traces of anterior self-consciousness, while the morning glory—translated through the structure of abstract language—reveals the spatial logic of the background, functioning as a site of abstraction liberated from the religious subjugation of early conceptual art. Within this symbolic abstraction, the repetition of planar forms and chromatic fields in conceptual design transforms the portrait into a visual allegory of linguistic deficiency, where the morning glory and Gallerani are rendered as images of ontological absence.
In this context, the “Morning Glory Gallerani” becomes not merely a replication of Lady with an Ermine in similar hues and proportions, but a conceptual realist image that embodies the autonomy and creativity of the contemporary subject, whose ontological concept is derived from the linguistic interplay between the woman and the ermine. The figurative form of this image, as a diachronic chain of signification, constructs a representational structure of existential absence, which, through the visual deconstruction of consumption, refuses to fix meaning through the lens of desire and instead weaves a multilayered semantic network.
Thus, Choi Chuljoo’s definition of Conceptual Abstract Realism does not merely symbolize the desire of the Other, but rather visualizes the repetition of linguistic deficiency to generate new strata of meaning. As such, Conceptual Abstract Realism bridges the gap between reality and abstraction through linguistic imagery, exploring ontological meaning visually and reinterpreting the structure of reality through the aesthetic lens of symbolic politics. Through the reversible shadows of light, this abstraction visualizes the temporal flux of meaning, reflecting the phenomenological delay of perception and forming a simultaneous linguistic structure in which the desire of the Other is perceived through realist imagery.
In this simultaneity, the fragmented structure of desire within contemporary language identifies with the mirrored image of the woman holding the ermine, constructing the self as a real image. The symbolic woman, in turn, speaks to the ermine through the language of imagery. Thus, by abstracting the image of the woman and the ermine through a conceptual approach, new meanings are embedded within the symbolic layers of the image, visualizing the desire of the Other at the intersection of phenomenological image and abstract meaning, while deconstructing the instability and fluidity of language to open new interpretive and philosophical possibilities.
The allegorical painting, connected through the morning glory, becomes a conceptual object that distinguishes the woman and the ermine as subjects formed through abstract perspectives. The concealed structure of the morning glory’s branches, shaped by the temporality of light, reveals a harmony between the woman and the ermine, whose meaning is translated into pictorial language as a manifestation of realist abstraction. This overlapping of realist imagery, bounded by the canvas and juxtaposed with the non-perspectival morning glory, distorts the abstract real.
The ermine, as a motif image of purity (vagina), is symbolically structured through its placement and the silver folds of the woman’s garment, contrasting moral virtue with latent desire. This abstraction of morality, distilled through the realist image of the ermine, is translated into a concrete form of abstraction grounded in visual structure, driven not by pure aesthetic form but by conceptual motifs and ideas. The ontological image is thus structured linguistically, passing through Choi’s philosophical apparatus of aesthetic desire to become a realist image of existential abstraction.
The shifting gaze of the woman and the ermine creates an illusory realist space, where the morning glory is generated as a background that reconstructs abstraction into realist form according to temporal flow. This reveals the “trace of time” as implemented by the movement of the conceptual subject, aligning the abstract linguistic meaning of the woman and the ermine with the image. The subject of conceptual abstraction, as a motif image, identifies the object of deficient desire through language, selecting an inevitable ontological image that remains suspended in abstract demand.
Louis Choi Chul-joo, morning glory · Cecilia Gallerani - sketch 1, 39.4×49.4Cm, acrylic and composite materials on cloth, 2025
Through this process, the image—whether of the ermine or the woman—transforms into abstraction via language and sign, and is then retranslated into realist form through the reversible structures of light and form. This allows the abstract desire of the Other to be expressed as a form of social allegory, where repeated signification produces a dual image of desire, distilled into visual form through the cultural meaning embedded in the ermine.
“Morning Glory Gallerani” thus becomes a Conceptual Abstract Realist image that does not merely symbolize desire but visualizes the structural design of desire through the background of reversible light, embedding the woman and the ermine within a new stratum of linguistic meaning. Gallerani, as an ontological object of abstract realism, is identified with the aesthetic structure of desire, while the ermine, through perspectival visual structure, marks the background with the morning glory.
This repetition of reactive imagery transforms the position of the morning glory into a linguistic abstraction of realist form. From the perspective of realism, Gallerani and the ermine are aligned with symbolic meaning, while from the conceptual viewpoint of desire, the invisible morning glory halts along the temporal trajectory of desire. This visualizes the aesthetic trace of time within Conceptual Abstract Realism, where the subject of desire, having departed from abstraction, selects a specific image of desire and transforms it into a real image of conceptual abstraction.
Ultimately, this process reveals the metaphysical desire of the subject, where the abstract structure questions its own object of desire and selects a real image of conceptual abstraction, reaching the point of abstraction as expressed in the formula: Choi Chul-joo’s desire formula, D(I...I')d=I(D...D')i, is not merely a symbolic gesture within art but a formal structure that encodes the recursive logic of desire. From a mathematical standpoint, this equation represents a bidirectional equivalence, where the left-hand side models the dynamic process by which desire (D) is activated through a sequence of images (I...I') under a driving coefficient (d), and the right-hand side reflects how those images recursively reconstruct the layered structures of desire (D...D') and resolve into a conceptual image (i). Each symbol carries structural weight:
D: The archetype of desire, representing the foundational lack or drive.
I...I': A sequence of visual representations through which desire is projected.
d: The dynamic coefficient—akin to a force or operator—that triggers the transformation from structure to image.
I: The emergent image of desire, a perceptual unit.
D...D': The recursive layers of desire, reflecting its multiplicity and transformation.
i: The conceptual resolution of desire, the cognitive abstraction of the image.
This formula resembles a fixed-point function in mathematics, where recursive inputs stabilize into a coherent output. It models desire as a self-referential system, where the structure of lack is mirrored and reconstituted through visual repetition, ultimately producing a symbolic image that encodes the original drive. The formula thus formalizes desire as a recursive, bidirectional system of transformation between structure and image.
� Cognitive Scientist’s Perspective: Desire as a Symbolic-Cognitive Loop
From a cognitive science perspective, Choi’s formula offers a compelling model of how the human mind processes desire—not as a static object, but as a dynamic interplay between symbolic abstraction and perceptual encoding. The sequence D(I...I') represents the mind’s pattern recognition mechanism, where repeated images allow the brain to infer the underlying structure of desire. The coefficient
� reflects internal cognitive forces—memory, imagination, and intersubjective projection—that drive this transformation. Conversely, I(D...D') models how abstract structures of desire are re-rendered into perceptual images, which are then cognitively categorized as conceptual desire (D).
This loop mirrors the symbolic mediation described by Lacan, where the subject’s desire is shaped by the gaze of the Other, and Freud’s notion of unconscious repetition, where desire is expressed through symbolic substitution. Cognitively, the formula encodes how the mind oscillates between image and structure, between perception and abstraction, forming a recursive loop that constructs desire as both absence and presence. The “morning glory” floating in the sky becomes a visual metaphor for this loop—a symbolic image that reflects and refracts the recursive architecture of longing.
Choi Chul-joo’s desire formula, expressed as D(I...I')d=I(D...D')i, operates not merely as a symbolic representation of emotional longing but as a sophisticated cognitive model that reveals how the human mind constructs, processes, and externalizes desire—not through direct emotional impulse or sensory reaction, but through a recursive interplay of repeated visual patterns, abstract structural inference, and symbolic conceptualization, such that the sequence of images (I...I') becomes the perceptual basis through which the structure of desire (D) is inferred, while the dynamic coefficient (d) represents the internal cognitive forces—such as memory, imagination, and intersubjective projection—that drive the transformation of structure into image, and conversely, the recursive structures of desire (D...D') are re-rendered into a singular image (I) that is cognitively resolved into a conceptual form of desire (i), thereby forming a symbolic loop in which the mind oscillates between image and abstraction, perception and meaning, and in doing so, constructs desire as both absence and presence, both repetition and emergence, and this process is vividly illustrated in the visual metaphor of the “morning glory” floating in the sky, where the flower becomes not only the object of desire but the medium through which desire is shaded, refracted, and encoded in reversible shadow structures—
Choi Chul-joo’s desire formula D(I...I')d=I(D...D')i an be visualized as a dynamic vector field, where each component represents a transformation in the structure of desire:
Left-hand side D(I...I')d: Desire D is activated by a sequence of images I...I', forming a directional vector across perceptual space. The coefficient d scales this vector, representing unconscious forces, cultural pressure, and social visibility. This side models the generation vector, where desire emerges from visual stimuli and is modulated by internal dynamics.
Right-hand side I(D...D')i: Recursive structures of desire D...D'′ are transformed into a singular image I, which is cognitively resolved into a conceptual value i. This side models the resolution vector, where abstract desire is re-rendered into perceptual form and interpreted semantically.
Transformation Arrows: Arrows between both sides represent recursive feedback loops, showing how desire oscillates between abstraction and realization.
The entire graph behaves as a fixed-point system, where desire continuously loops through image, structure, and meaning.
� Cognitive Psychologist’s Perspective: Desire as Symbolic Simulation
This is the moment of symbolic closure, where desire becomes intelligible.
This graph reveals that desire is not a linear impulse but a recursive cognitive algorithm, where the mind loops through symbolic abstraction, perceptual encoding, and conceptual resolution. The object—whether a pop art image, a shaded metaphor, or a reflective pond—functions as a recursive node in this system, simulating the architecture of desire through visual recursion and symbolic feedback.
5. The actualization of conceptual abstract realism abstraction acquires the abstract object specified in Choi Chul-joo's desire formula, and the desire image (i) design (d) is an opportunity to verbally interpret the conditions (i/d) under which the image of the abstract realism object is realized through grammatical interpretation of the linguistic meaning beyond the desires of others.
<D(I...I'd)=I(D...D'i)> Conceptual abstract realism images as reality reach abstraction by abstractly selecting a specific object, where the subject of desire asks what abstract realism wants from him. This dictates the meaning of the symbolic action that characterizes the design of dynamic and abstract structural images, which repeatedly combine pieces of distorted desire background images in the process of abstraction.
Here, an image is not a visual phenomenon of a dynamic image, but a device that visualizes the flow of unconsciousness and the process by which symbols are transformed into realistic images, and it is the meaning of language that symbolizes abstract images of conceptual dynamic images and abstract structures.
Therefore, abstraction expresses the abstract structure that stopped from the concept of existential desire realized by abstracting an abstract place that humans cannot experience in life from a linguistic semantic system to an object of desire as a realism image.
It is a device that conveys philosophical abstract meaning and linguistic meaning to images, and operates as Choi Chul-joo's conceptual abstract realism abstraction and designs it as a philosophical abstract image that reproduces the nature of human existence and the limitations of perception as a metaphor to become an existential realism image. In other words, it visualizes the conflict between dynamic images and abstract self-formation, existential abstract structures as effects, and linguistic meanings revealed in the gaze, and reinterprets the mirror image of abstract realism to abstract dynamic images and abstract structures beyond phenomenal backgrounds and desire formulas as desire structures.
This form reveals the sensory structure before the perception of existential fish, i.e., the previous stage image of linguistic meaning, and beyond the literary nature of modern conceptual art, it is a realism abstraction as a linguistic meaning where more diverse spatiotemporal and pictorial forms intersect through the viewer's eyes.
In this way, realism and abstract symbols repeatedly collide, revealing the symbolic structure before language.
The iconic fish moves to the object of desire in an abstract image that reveals the unconscious desire of the other person. Through this, it is possible to realize a conceptual abstract realist image in modern art.
This is a piece of meaning symbolized in a non-existent space, an abstract abstraction of an abstract structure that mimics the dynamic image and the structure of desire.
Abstraction functions as a pictorial event image, and instead of desire, it explores the boundary between existence and absence by combining fragmentary sculptural images with shades of color produced by reversible light.
In this abstract design method applied to conceptual abstract realism painting, the shape of a dynamic image that acts as a sign of desire before linguistic meaning is transferred to an image as a symbol, and the meaning of it is transferred to a variable image in linguistic meaning according to the unconscious desire structure in which the time of desire that moves while unconsciously synthesizing according to temporality coexists.
As an image of linguistic meaning, it conceptualizes abstract structure as a living dynamic image and images it as an existential realist image, resulting in a conceptual abstract realism design that phenomenally expresses abstractness and self-consciousness as abstract spaces according to temporality through the traces of time.
This formula signifies the recursive design of symbolic function, where the image is not a visual phenomenon but a device that visualizes the unconscious flow and symbolic transition into realist imagery. The morning glory, as a mimetic abstraction, becomes the linguistic sign of Conceptual Abstract Realism, where the abstract space of desire—unreachable in lived experience—is fractured within the linguistic system and visualized as a realist image.
Through the reversible shadows of light, these images conceal or reveal reality, expressing the essence and limits of human existence. The light of the past, illuminating the sustainable present, becomes a realist image of the now, and the abstract past is transferred into the real structure of contemporary realism. In this way, Conceptual Abstract Realism explores the gap between reality and abstraction, reinterpreting the structure of reality through symbolic politics and visualizing the temporal shift of meaning, ultimately producing new aesthetic values at the intersection of language and image./ Writing. Choi Chul-joo, a Conceptual Abstract Realism Art Scholar Critic (Doctor of Cultural Design)
Choi Chul-joo, a Conceptual Abstract Realism Art Scholar