Los Angeles-based artist Jinseok Choi uses fabric offcuts from garment sweatshops imprinted and dyed by the rust of antique railroad spikes to exemplify the concept of invisible labor. Jinseok Choi, Before the Last Spike 2, 2023. Courtesy of the artist.
ArtCenter College of Design will host ‘Jinseok Choi: Before the Last Spike,’ an exhibition featuring fabric installations and multi-media wooden mask sculptures by Los Angeles-based artist Jinseok Choi. Choi’s work explores the themes of time, culture, and memory through historically significant artifacts, highlighting the contributions of Chinese immigrant laborers in the 19th century.
The exhibition critically examines the intangible nature of labor and its impact on society. The exhibit will be on view from September 11, 2024, to February 8, 2025.
Recognizing that the history and issue of immigration is tied to the politics of what the artist identifies as invisible labor, works featured in the exhibition are made from reclaimed items drawn from industries that have a long history with immigrant labor. Choi’s use of salvaged matter consisting of antique railroad spikes, fabric offcuts from garment sweatshops, and castoffs from his own work as an arts fabricator imbues his sculptural installation with the political discourse surrounding immigrant labor.
The exhibition title refers to the artist’s Before the Last Spike fabric installation series, which consist of recovered fabric pieces imprinted and dyed by the rust of antique railroad spikes. The series serves as a counterpoint to the Champagne Photo that omitted the Asian workforce foundational to the building of the transportation system.
In the artist’s series of masks, both the mask and incense elements are comprised of discarded wood from his fabrication commissions. In these pieces, the material evidence of labor is transformed into artworks. Choi’s selection of these materials and objects calls attention to them as residue or imprints of labor, time, memory and history that is both personal and public.
With this conceptual undergirding, these sculptures and multimedia works offer up a visual experience that at times belies the critical examination of the artist. The artist’s work allows for the materials to speak on their own terms and highlights the invisible system of labor that is also invisible in the art world.
Jinseok Choi received his MFA at CalArts in 2018 and has shown in multiple venues in the US and internationally including ICALA, MAK Center and galleries in Seoul, Korea. He was nominated for the Rema Hort Mann Foundation emerging artist grant in 2020.
The Peter and Merle Mullin Gallery is located at the ArtCenter College of Design, South Campus, 1111 S Arroyo Parkway in Pasadena. It is open Wednesday through Saturday, noon–5 p.m. (Closed Sunday–Tuesday and holidays). Admission to the gallery is free. Free parking is available at 1111 S Arroyo Parkway.
