featured artists
carnivals yet to come
Play, pause, and rediscover joy with Phoebe Kalm Choi.
Phoebe Kalm Choi first visited NYC at the age of eight, and again during her college years to attend Columbia University’s Arts in the Summer program. Now a second-year MFA student at Pratt Institute, she often recalls those vibrant first encounters. From standout galleries and bold fashion trends, to green spaces and the warmth of strangers on the streets, the city fills her with a sense of wonder to this day.
NYC’s constant stream of exhibitions has offered Phoebe landmark moments of discovery. Last November’s Harmony and Dissonance: Orphism in Paris, 1910 – 1930 at the Guggenheim showcased the lyrical energy of Robert and Sonia Delaunay’s paintings, reinforcing the same visual language that anchors Phoebe’s own artistic sensibilities. Day trips beyond the city have also carried such revelations. At Dia:Beacon, Roni Horn’s drawings seemed to transcend the boundaries of the paper, while back in Manhattan, the intimate pairing of Stanley Whitney and Henri Matisse at Craig Starr Gallery echoes through her imagination like a performative dialogue of rhythm and color. Most recently, sharing her personal work at Pratt Institute’s Open Studios and a pop-up show has grounded these inspirations in a sense of community. At the time, Phoebe invited visitors to leave sketches or notes in a guestbook, their gestures of kindness strengthening her resolve and reminding her of exactly why she chose this path to begin with.
Phoebe enjoys skirting the cutting-edge of contemporary art, forever broadening her horizons through collaborations. Sharing a studio floor has facilitated countless conversations about art, childhood, daily life, and everything in between, all of which have entered into her practice. She has also established the Artist Accountability (AA) collective, a community-based group of artists who meet every Friday to attend studio visits, host critique sessions, and simply throw ideas around to see what arises.
Phoebe’s works begin their lives as colored pencils, oil pastels, markers, and crayons on paper. She often seals these drawings with wax before layering colors and exploring the tactile qualities that unfold. Infused with the energies of youth, her colors beckon one another, fluctuating in transparency and opacity as if to honor the original traces hidden behind interlocking forms. They also exist as pools of memory, preserving small joys and sensations that otherwise fade away.
During the transition from drawing to painting, instinct takes center stage. At this stage, Phoebe evokes the playful physicality of children’s toys by collaging, cutting, and arranging painted paper cutouts into unexpected forms. She also creates sculptural extensions that push her paintings into three-dimensional spaces, mirroring the tiny stools and many whimsical objects that inhabit her eclectic studio space.
Through artmaking, Phoebe becomes that little girl again with a brush in hand. As she puts it:
“My practice thrives on unpredictability, yet it always finds its way back to joy. I speak to things that cannot answer, I meet with that which is no longer here, and I whisper things that the eye cannot see. Draped in vivid colors, I give birth to my painting, a conversation in motion. I am its mother, also its first audience and witness. I build layers, scrape some away, cover parts completely, and let others peek through. Sometimes I step back, other times I sit on the couch and stare, engaging in a silent exchange with my work. I lay the canvas on the floor, hang it on the wall, get up close, and then walk away to see it from afar. I rotate it, turn it upside down, and let it become something else. Spontaneity gathers, moment by moment, until the unexpected arrives. Now, I dance with it, blessing all the carnivals that are yet to come.”
