Freedom Found in the Erasure of Print... CHOI Byungso’s "Untitled"

Artist CHOI Byungso erases and scratches away at newspapers using a ballpoint pen. When he repeatedly rubs the paper with an ink-filled pen, it turns black; when he scrapes it with an empty pen, it becomes white. He sometimes overlays the surface with pencil as well. The process is closer to a form of ascetic practice. Through this act of 'removal,' CHOI finds a sense of purification—much like a monk in search of enlightenment.