Studs and Portraits, Horns and Silence:

An Exploration of Sculptural Language as Proof of the Self

This book accompanies visual artist Choi Chulyong’s solo exhibition Unicorn: One Horn, held at the Youngeun Museum of Contemporary Art from May 3 to June 1, 2025.

Crossing the boundaries of painting, installation, text, and fashion, the volume presents the artist’s exploration of how human identity and selfhood are perceived and expressed through philosophical inquiry and visual language. Rather than reducing the mythical unicorn’s single horn to a mere symbol, Choi reimagines it as a representation of one’s “unique center” that lies deep within the self.

With themes such as “a sensation invisible yet never erased” and “a being that proves itself within every order,” the artist probes the inner self through a complex sculptural language—portraits stripped of emotion, the anonymity of repetition, and the shifting gaze that moves between matter and form.