Youngwol Y Park Museum, Youngwol, Korea
For artist Choi Ok Yeung, the massive wooden blocks once used to support iron ships in shipyards are far more than functional objects—they are industrial relics and silent witnesses to generations of labor. These blocks are imbued with the sweat, effort, and lives of countless workers, carrying physical and emotional traces of human touch.
Though never intended as art, the shipyard wood possesses a raw sculptural quality. Its thick, rough texture, the remnants of industrial debris, and the impressions left by weight and pressure transform these pieces into evocative materials. To Choi, they resemble fallen whales, sharks, lions, or tigers—monumental beings whose presence leaves behind stories etched into their forms.
Choi approaches these materials with restraint, applying minimal processing. Using wooden nails, he assembles the blocks in ways that evoke memory and long labor. Their original utilitarian character is preserved, yet they begin to ascend—both metaphorically and physically—as minimalist sculptures breathe new life into them. Through this transformation, the energy embedded in the wood is reactivated, and the materials are reborn as works of art.
By gathering these worn, time-etched blocks and recontextualizing them, Choi creates sculptural groupings that seem to rise again—as if in motion, as if dancing—infused with the echoes of labor, time, and life.
Youngwol Y Park Museum, Youngwol, Korea
GANGNEUNG, Korea
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RUBBER
CEMENT
WOOD
STEEL
MILK CARTON
MANURE
